


The Moon Rises

by TwilightMaster15



Series: Best Friend Projects [3]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Battle, Betrayal, Blood and Injury, Corruption, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Pets, Self-Esteem Issues, sun and moon au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-19 14:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 35,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22912690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightMaster15/pseuds/TwilightMaster15
Summary: In a world where two individuals every few thousand years are granted the power to control day and night in tandem, and are supposed to be soulmates and equals, the people worship the Sun but more often than not shun the Moon.L Lawliet is the Sun, even though he would rather hide in his room during the daytime hours. Everybody assumes it is the Moon, Light Yagami, who plays that role. One day, L hears a psychic message from Light with the issue, and they agree in six years, they will meet face to face so Light isn't alone.Six years later, being shunned his whole life and mistaken for something he isn't weighs down on Light's psyche, just in time for the Death Note to enter the human world, and he jumps on the chance to use it so to improve the world so people wouldn't fear the night. However, this motivation leads L to quickly suspect who Kira is, but what can he do against an immortal individual who is his equal and other half?What L does know is he needs to be careful. If Light snaps and his power becomes corrupted, they would have to clash, and while L knew he would win, the consequences were not worth it. All he can do now is be there for Light and hope society's cruel nature doesn't damn them all.
Relationships: L/Yagami Light
Series: Best Friend Projects [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1639696
Comments: 93
Kudos: 151





	1. Chapter 1

On the planet Earth, magic wasn't ordinary, but it was well-known. Much of it was known in the form of religion, but there was one particular magic the world believed in as a whole.

Once every unspecified thousand years, a sundrop and a moondrop would fall from the heavens, from time to time, the stars would join in and would gift its power to a child. Nobody knew whether this ability was a blessing or a curse because if you were the chosen of the Sun, Moon, or Stars, it was your responsibility from the time you were able to walk to raise the thing you're in charge of. And you would live for thousands of years, watching as the world changes around you and those you called family perish.

But there was a silver lining, as the Sun and Moon were soulmates, even if they had a reputation of bumps in the road. So it was desired by both the Sun and Moon to find each other.

L Lawliet was born with the power of the Sun and was abandoned by his parents because they didn't want to put up with their child having the ability to smite them at any time. Eventually, he was found by Quillish Wammy, who instantly recognized he was the sundrop and took care of him, teaching him how to master his abilities. But something was missing. Sun and Moon died together, but L had yet to find his Moon, so he found himself needing to push himself to forcefully raise the Moon, after which he would always be exhausted to the point of passing out.

But when L was about seven, he noticed that the Moon had risen on its own. He smiled, knowing his Moon was able to use his or her powers. Even then, L hoped it was a guy, he already could tell he wasn't straight.

When he was thirteen, he started getting momentary flashes and heard a child's joyful squeals, or from time to time, there were paintings on canvases of nighttime. It was also around this time that L noticed that while the previous Sun and Moon had a strict schedule of when day and night began and ended, his Moon tended to keep it up for as long as he could. L was lenient about this because he had to admit he preferred the nighttime, even if he had the power of the Sun, he hated the world during the day.

But from time to time, he seemed Moon was downright refusing to let daytime start, or maybe he or she was sleeping. So L learned he could send pulses, small reminders to lower the Moon. He figured it would be easier if they knew each other and could regularly meet up, so the occasional pulses worked well to make sure there weren't days with no sun at all.

Then, when he was eighteen, he heard crying and quickly realized he listened to the Moon in his head. He tried to call out, "What's wrong?"

 _"H-Huh?! Who are you?"_ A voice, so young, probably eleven or twelve, but definitely male. L knew an age gap like that eventually would be irrelevant, but he felt weird, knowing that while he was technically an adult, his soulmate was a young preteen. _"Are you the Sun?"_

"I am. I take it you're Moon."

 _"Yeah..."_ Moon sighed, _"I'm Light, you?"_

Light. So that was his name. L smiled a little because, in the English language, it was quite the strange name for the God of Nighttime to have. L hesitated for a moment, before deciding that it was pointless to lie to his own soulmate and other half about something so trivial as his name.

"L. My name is L. Light, what's wrong? I heard you crying."

 _"Oh..."_ L crouched on the bed, listening intently as Light spoke into his head. He highly doubted anyone else would be able to hear the boy, _"It—It's just that... everyone knows I'm one of the special people, but everyone thinks I'm the Sun. They're always telling me how pretty the sunrise was, and they want me to make the days longer. They don't even know me at all! Even my own sister wants me to meet you in person so she can meet the Sun. Everything's about the Sun, and everyone shuns the Moon right in my face!"_

It was saddening, the brutal truth of the world they lived in, where families shut themselves in their houses at night since criminals ran rampant under the moonlight's pale glow with the stars twinkling above. But L found himself surprised, what was so different about this kid that while people knew he had powers, they all assumed he was the Sun. L chuckled a little because he had always thought he would be more fitting for the Moon. Maybe they got the wrong powers on accident.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, being the Sun sucks. Honestly, I stay inside all day in the dark. I'm not some stereotypical suave blonde beauty, I prefer nighttime too." He heard Light sniff a little,

_"Really?"_

"Yeah. And I think we have a psychic connection now, so we can talk. I'm okay with longer nights, except for Halloween."

_"Why Halloween?"_

L's birthday, but that wasn't the reason, "People take advantage of the darkness and can hide behind a mask alongside all those with costumes. That's all." He could feel Light nod,

_"I get it. Dad's a police officer, and he tells me stuff like that all the time."_

Oh, poor Light, the Moon who was the son of an officer who would benefit from shorter nights, meaning fewer crimes.

"I want to meet you, Light." L said, "I'm clearly much older than you, so I doubt your parents would be comfortable with it, but how about in... six years from now, we will meet in person."

_"That sounds good. I'll be eighteen then. But we can still talk, right?"_

"Yeah. But you're okay, right?"

 _"Mm-hm, thanks, L. At least someone understands me."_ L smiled as he felt a disconnect, almost like a phone call ending, and he saw it was time for the night to begin, and it was a full-moon tonight, with a pale glow illuminating the world.

L smiled, whispering Light's name.

OoOoO

Light counted down the days until the six-year limit was up, and he'd be able to meet L, his Sun, in person. Sometimes he fantasized about what his supposed soulmate looked like but usually found himself focusing on his voice.

In a world where everyone considered his looks to be proof he was the Sun, he had to put up with "the sunrise was beautiful today" or "the night went on forever, you should talk to the Moon about it." It got to a point Light forced himself to get up strictly at 5:30am and let daytime begin, so he didn't need to hear that. And it hurt, people hiding in their houses and afraid to walk the streets at night with all their doors locked tight.

He was eighteen now, brilliant, bored beyond belief, and depressed because nobody except L accepted and understood him for who he was. He took great comfort in knowing L preferred night too, which was strange since he was the Sun, but in no way was Light planning on complaining.

But he wished that people weren't so afraid. The world was rotten, and criminals more often than not attacked in the dark. There was a logical reason for that, but for the Moon, it really was the worst. At least he didn't live in medieval times where people thought nighttime had some sort of toxic gas, he was sure he would break down if that was the case. But then he remembered he was doomed to live for thousands of years, no point in befriending anyone besides L.

Not for the first time, Light looked out the window in class at the overcast day, sighing, and wishing for someone to send him a sign, a way to improve the world so people could appreciate the night for more than prolonging college deadlines or sleeping in.

Then he saw the notebook fall from the sky.


	2. Chapter 2

The Death Note was for real!

Light's whole body trembled as he'd watched a man whose name he had written down be hit by a truck. He looked down at the notebook, and his trembling changed from fear to excitement. A wretched person who abused his night was dead.

But he felt a foreign rage as he saw those other men whose names he didn't know, and he noticed that his hair had turned navy again in his anger, so he walked out there, letting his glowing turquoise eyes be seen. When he was feeling any strong emotion, his power reacted by enacting a physical change.

"So, what was going on?" He asked calmly, noticing those gang members were gone, so he walked over to the girl, hoping she wouldn't be afraid of him. She looked up at him with wide eyes,

"You—You're—!"

"Moon? Yes. I wanted to make sure you were okay, I do hate it when people abuse the shadows of night." He helped her up with a soft smile, having hidden the notebook in his bag, "Here, I can take you home." Even saying that left a bad taste in his mouth, helping her hide from the night, but seeing as she'd almost been raped, he found he couldn't be too bitter about it. He felt his navy and black wings sprout out of his back, and he picked her up once she had accepted. He smirked a little, deciding that at least he could show her nighttime's beauty from high above. He shot into the air, following her directions, and noticed her marveling at the beauty of the crescent moon and the twinkling stars.

Light often wondered who had the Stars powers, or if they had even joined in this time because that was one person who would hopefully understand him. 

After taking the girl home, he waved goodbye and flew to his house, taking out the Death Note and thinking of the endless possibilities. With this, he could prove that it was just as dangerous during the day... or he could better the world so no more criminals plagued his night so people wouldn't be afraid anymore. 

He felt another tremor of unadulterated glee at the idea, to the point he froze when he heard L's voice in his head,

_"What's got you so excited? I take it something good happened if you sent your joy at me."_

Light paused, realizing that, crap, L was a detective and was bound to investigate a magical killer. Well... L might understand, and what could humans do against a God? But he wasn't going to bank his one shot at equality on that, so he decided instead to say,

"I think I found someone who accepts me."

OoOoO

Five days later, Light had written countless names, making sure they were all during the daytime. People had already taken notice and wondered if this was the wrath of the Sun, Moon, or even Stars. L had asked him about it, and Light had replied that as long as it led to people being safe at night, he could care less about what Kira was doing. L had yet to pop the question of "are you Kira?" and Light counted that as a blessing.

He opened the Death Note and looked upon every name he had written, putting him one step closer to being as loved as L. Wasn't it in his right to be accepted too? He'd waited in the wings long enough and was going to take action.

The thought had occurred to him to force an eclipse and simply never lower the moon ever again, but he hadn't been pushed to that extreme and hoped his mental state wouldn't become _that_ damaged. He knew there were some things that, if they occurred, might break him. 

Unfortunately, he didn't know much about his powers, and any other ability he had except bringing forth nighttime had been taught to him by L. One thing he was always worried about was corruption. It didn't come as a shock to Light that Moons were more susceptible to corrupting and becoming something the humans often called Nightmare Moon or something along those lines. 

There had been a handful of times the Stars corrupted, and it usually happened in tandem with the Moon. The Sun had only had it happen once, and that had been the only time a forced eclipse for long periods was beneficial.

How exactly corruption happened was unclear, but Light could tell there were moments in his childhood he had become dangerously close. Not only would his hair and eyes change, but his hands would develop claws, and the pigmentation on his hands and forearms would change, giving off the appearance of gloves. That was as far as it had ever gotten, and he hoped it would never get worse.

"You've taken quite a liking to it." 

Light spun around, hearing a new voice, and screamed when he saw a monster of some sort. The creature chuckled,

"No reason to act surprised. I am the Shinigami, Ryuk. That used to be my notebook. Judging by your laughter, you've already figured out that what you have is no ordinary notebook."

Light stood up, "Shinigami, a God of Death, huh? Well, I'm not surprised. In fact… Ryuk, I've been waiting for you." He had been, though, who wouldn't be startled with a sudden voice behind you? "I've already figured out that this Death Note that I've found is real. It didn't take me long. And now that I've witnessed the proof of its power, I only feel more confident in what I'm gonna do."

Ryuk grinned a wide, toothy grin, "That's interesting. I certainly wasn't expecting this. Several Death Notes have made their way into the human world before, but you're the first to have written this many names. Look at how many people you've killed in only five days. Most are reluctant to write this much."

Finding himself curious, Light had to ask, and this was also to find out if Ryuk knew who had wound up with the notebook, "I've already prepared myself, Ryuk. I used the Death Note even though I knew it belonged to a Shinigami, and now that Shinigami has come. So what will happen to me? You're here to take my soul, right?"

"Hmm, what do you mean? Is that some fantasy you humans came up with? I'm not gonna do anything to you. The Death Note becomes part of the human realm from the very moment it touches the earth. In other words, the notebook is now yours." Light looked from the notebook to Ryuk, realizing that the Shinigami thought him human.

"This… is mine?"

"If you don't want it, just give it to someone else. But if you give it away, I'd have no choice but to erase your memories of the notebook."

"So, then, you're saying I can use the Death Note all I want, and I won't be punished?"

"Let's just say this," Ryuk replied, as Light closed his eyes in contemplation, "You will feel the fear and pain known only to humans who have used the notebook. And when it's your time to die, it will fall on me to write your name in my Death Note. Be warned, any human who's used a Death Note can neither go to heaven nor hell for eternity. That's all." The Shinigami laughed, "Now, you have something to look forward to after you die."

"But here's the thing, Ryuk," Light opened his eyes, revealing the true nature of what he was, "I'm _not_ human." Ryuk hesitated when he saw the glowing turquoise, and then began full-on cackling,

"I got the Moon! How interesting, I wouldn't expect a God to pick up my notebook. You've not plenty of magic on your own."

"Perhaps, but I have little control over anything besides day and night cycles." Light froze when he heard a knock on the door and heard his mother call his name. He looked between the door and Ryuk, who seemed completely calm,

"It'll be alright. Answer it." Deciding not to question it, Light opened the door,

"What is it?" His mother walked in and put a basket of apples on his desk,

"I thought you'd like some apples. The neighbors brought them over for us. Why on earth is it so dark in your room? You'll ruin your eyesight."

 _What's going on? Mom can't see him?_ "Mom, I'm the Moon, I can see in the dark." Sachiko shrugged and left, and Light looked to the Shinigami for an explanation.

"That notebook you found initially belonged to me," Ryuk explained, "And since you're now using it, you are the only one able to see me, and of course, my voice can only be heard by you. In other words, the Death Note is the bond between Light the Moon God, and Ryuk the Shinigami."

"Ryuk, if you didn't know I was the Moon, did you intend for a human to pick up the notebook? You even wrote down specific instructions, so don't tell me it was an accident altogether. Why would you bring it down here to begin with?"

Ryuk laughed, eating an apple, "I didn't think the Moon would pick it up, that's for sure. But it just happened to fall around here, and you just happened to pick it up. And that's all there is to it. That's why I wrote the instructions in English, the most popular language in the human world. But you're asking me why? I did it 'cause I was bored."

"You were bored?" Light felt a little hope blossom, thinking that maybe this God would understand him. So far, in Light's experience, other Gods were the only ones who knew the struggle.

Ryuk shrugged, "The truth is Shinigami haven't got much to do these days. Most of the time, we're either taking naps or gambling. If you take the time to write names in your Death Note, the others just laugh at you for working so hard. Even if you wrote the name of another Shinigami, it'd be pointless because they wouldn't die. And since we live in the Shinigami Realm, it brings us no amusement to kill those in the human world either. The Sun and Moon are lucky in that sense, able to live among humans and be mistaken for one, at least until you settle. So I figured I'd have more fun if I came down here myself. Anyway, I'm surprised at how many names you've written, but I wanna know why you only wrote the cause of death for that guy who was hit by the truck."

Light winced at the mention of settling—stopping aging. He knew it was going to happen soon since L mentioned he had settled around eighteen. It was just going to be another reminder that L was the only friend he could have unless the Stars appeared sometime. But Shinigami were immortal, right? Maybe Ryuk could be a friend.

"If you don't write down the cause of death, the victim dies of a heart attack," Light explained, "And that's probably the best thing about the Death Note, Ryuk. You see, I've already exhausted the list of the world's significant criminals, and eventually, I'm going to get rid of them all."

"What's the point of doing that?"

Because people fear the night, and I'm shunned. What's worse, people think I'm the Sun, so that shunning is often to my face. Now, it's only a matter of time before people figure out that these criminals are being eliminated by someone." He picked up the notebook, grinning, "I want the world to _know_ that someone is passing righteous judgment on the wicked, people can die during the day, and there's no reason to fear the night!" He spun around, "If I don't do it, then who will? That's just it—there's no one, but I can do it. In fact, I'm the only one who can. I'll do it, using the Death Note, I'll change the world."

Ryuk laughed, "This is going to be more interesting than I thought."


	3. Chapter 3

"I thought it'd never end." Ryuk moaned after school ended, "How do you do this every day? It's so dull here. You're a God, you don't have to do this." He noticed Light wasn't responding and was walking away, "Hey, where're you going? Hey, Light! Are you listening to me?"

"Don't talk to me." Light muttered quietly, "Unlike you, people can still hear me when I talk out loud."

"Heh, well, aren't you boring." Light stumbled a little into a classmate of his,

"Hey, what's up, Light? We were just going to head down to the—"

"Sorry, I'm a little busy today." Light replied, and his classmate chuckled,

"Sun stuff?"

"Sure." Light sighed, "Good day." Once he was alone in a quiet part of town, his shoulders sagged, the happy facade dropping as he looked up at the sun far above. It was days like this that he really hated how attractive he was.

"You don't have anything to do." Ryuk said, "Aren't you just going to go home and hang out in your room, as usual?" Light let his wings out and flew into the air, his hair and eyes changing along the way to not be recognized. And this way, he could talk to Ryuk a little louder.

"What are you talking about? Of course, I have something to do." _Yes, something significant._

He landed on his balcony and walked inside his room, checking the clock. It was 3:25pm since it took ten minutes to fly home after school, and sunset was at 5:35, so he had 130 minutes to write names.

He turned on the news, whipped out the notebook, and started writing names.

"There was more violence across the city today. Another stabbing, this time at a restaurant in the heart of the Kabuki-Cho district of Shinjuku."

Ryuk was sitting on Light's bed, munching on an apple, "Hey, Light. I'm talking to you."

"What is it?"

"Why are you working so hard?"

"I can't afford to waste any time." Light replied, "I have a tiny window to write names in this notebook. I only have from when I get home from school until I raise the moon. If I'm serious about trying to create an ideal world that's free from evil, then I need to make the most of my time."

Light huffed when he heard Sayu's voice on the other side of the door, "Huh? Weird. Hey, Light, what's going on? Why is your door locked?"

"What is it?" Light asked, extremely frustrated as he put the notebook in his desk. He couldn't afford to waste a second as he quickly messed up his bedding. It was typical for him to sleep for two hours after school, and then would be more awake and working at night.

"Can you help me with my homework?"

Usually, he would say sure, but not today, when he had names to write. And he was actually tired, "Not today, Sayu, sorry. I'm pretty tired and am going to take a nap before cram school."

He heard Sayu groan from the other side of the door, "You really should sleep more at night like the rest of us." Light narrowed his eyes in the direction of the door, wondering how long until she realized how much of an insult that was and would be coming back to apologize as she had many times before. He couldn't blame her since she was the only girl on Earth whose brother was the Moon God and slept during the day. Unfortunately, she did have a point, and he would need to rest at night more often.

"Oh," Ryuk said, "I'd be careful if I were you. If anyone else touches that notebook you've got hidden in the drawer right now, they'll be able to see me too."

_Huh, he waits till now to mention that critical detail?! Damn Shinigami._

Light growled a little, already coming up with a plan. He wrote names until he saw it was time to raise the moon and walked onto his balcony, and launching into the air, his whole body covering in a turquoise glow as he brought forth night.

Then he left his room to head to cram school and then quickly flew to a warehouse once he had obtained the proper materials.

"What are we doing here, anyway?" Ryuk asked, "I don't understand why we're sneaking around this dump. Tell me."

"Isn't it obvious? Anyone who touches the Death Note will be able to see you. I can't afford to carry something this dangerous with me anymore. Up until now, I thought that if my family ever saw the notebook, I can tell them I was keeping records of various criminals in preparation for becoming a detective one day. But I'm walking a very fine line right now. I don't want to think about it, but if I make one mistake, my father would have to choose between justice and his family, and I don't want to put that kind of pressure on him. Hopefully, people will be smart enough to get the picture, so I don't have to write names for long."

Then he got started on his project.

OoOoO

Sitting in his room, L was using Watari to communicate at an ICPO meeting about Kira. In truth, he already had a pretty good idea who Kira was, but also knew that in the event it was Light, this power to kill with heart attacks was not connected to his moon abilities unless he was messing with time to age their hearts into giving out. But with how little knowledge Light had of his magic, L doubted that was the case. 

If this was Light, he had help from an outside power, which brought L to the conclusion this was the Stars or someone else who had this ability somehow.

"The difficulty of this case lies in its unprecedented scope. This case cannot be solved without the full cooperation of the ICPO. That is all of the police organizations you represent throughout the world. You need to make the decision to fully support the investigation at this meeting. Also, I require further cooperation from Japan's National Police Agency."

"Huh?" He heard Soichiro Yagami ask, "What? Why Japan, in particular?"

"Whether the guilty party is an individual or a group, there's a strong possibility that they are Japanese. And even if they are not, we can be sure they're hiding in Japan."

"What is all this based on?"

"Simple. The guilty party clearly supports the Moon, who I know for a fact lives in Japan."

"And how would you know that?!" L smirked because Mr. Yagami was giving himself away. Even if L hadn't know Light, the chief's reaction would be enough evidence that he knew the Moon. But he highly doubted anyone else would notice. And revealing himself to be the Sun would lead to being worshipped, and that was the last thing he wanted.

"Because I know the Sun, who knows the Moon." He replied, which was technically the truth. "At any rate, I would like to set up the investigation headquarters in Japan."

OoOoO

Light looked at his desk, "That was easier to make than I thought it'd be."

"Huh? Does that mean you were able to hide the notebook?" Ryuk asked, and Light nodded,

"Yeah. I hid it right here in this drawer." He gestured to the drawer in question. Ryuk looked down at it judgementally,

"But it doesn't seem to be particularly well hidden. You left the key in the lock."

"And that's the whole point. I intentionally left the key in the most noticeable place I could think of." He opened the drawer, revealing a brown leather diary.

"Isn't that just a regular diary?"

"Yup. Once most people find the diary inside my desk, that'll probably satisfy their curiosity. But the real key is this." He held up a pen, "Just an everyday item you'd expect to find lying around on my desk. A regular ball-point pen, and all I need is this part." He removed the ink reservoir of the pen. "If you look closely, you'll find there's a small hole underneath the drawer. And he proceeded to explain everything about the new installation in his desk, glad somebody would listen to him.

Ryuk was clearly impressed, "I've heard of humans finding Death Notes in the past, and typically, the biggest problem they had was finding a good place to hide it. But you, Light, you're probably the first to have given it this much thought. Though, it's a pretty risky setup from the look of it. If you make even the slightest mistake, you could be badly burned."

"Not human, remember? And it's no riskier than using the Death Note. The only thing I'm worried about is L finding out." Light sighed, looking out the window and needing to lower the moon as L began the day.

"Well, isn't the Stars supposed to protect you?" Ryuk asked, and Light turned in confusion,

"Huh?"

"That's the whole reason the Stars joined in the mix—to protect the Moon. Usually, it's to stop corruption or snap them out of it before the Sun has no choice but to banish their soul to the moon. It's happened more times than you'd think, but there have been times the Stars joined Moon in corruption, and they were both sent away."

Light's eyes widened as new dread set in, "And I didn't know this before because?!"

"Don't worry," Ryuk assured nonchalantly, "It only comes to that if corruption happens."

"Great, just great," Light started pacing, running his hands through his hair, "So I _do_ have something to worry about it L catches me. Maybe he'll understand. He has to. I'm not crazy." He sat down at the computer, glad it was a weekend, so he didn't need to worry about school that day and being tired, "Ryuk, you should check this out. Websites like this are popping up everywhere lately."

Ryuk came over, looking over Light's shoulder, "The Legend of Kira, the Savior. Huh. Sounds pretty cool. Is this about you?"

"Yeah. I think they've taken the name Kira from the English word killer. I can't say I'm happy about that, but it looks like that's the name they've decided to give me. When I search the word Kira, I'm pulling up tons of sites just like this one. The media hasn't picked up on it. They're still calling this a succession of unexplained deaths among the world's most hardened criminals. But…the people of the world can already sense that something is happening. They know there's someone out there passing righteous judgment. It seems people believe the Stars is the one doing this, protecting the shunned Moon from corruption." He scoffed, standing up with a bitter smile, "At least they're self-aware."

"Oh?" Ryuk cocked his head, and Light walked to the balcony, seeing the sun, and he sighed,

"Human beings are like that, Ryuk. Although this would probably never happen in school, let's say that students were asked to discuss whether bad people deserve to die. Well, you can bet that everyone will give the politically correct answer. Of course, that's the proper response to offer, right? Humans are always trying to maintain appearances when they're in public. That's just how they are. But _this,_ " he gestured back to the computer, "Is how they really feel. Most are too afraid to support me as they're worried about what others would think. Many would rather deny my existence, as usual."

Ryuk was catching on now, "But on the Internet, where you can remain anonymous, support for Kira is growing."

Light nodded, smiling, "Maybe people are afraid to say it out loud, but they all understand what's happening. Someone's making the bad guys disappear one by one. Innocents cheer for Kira because they have nothing to fear, while those who abuse the night hide during the day. They are forced to hide from an unknown enemy. This is how it should be. Everything is going just like I planned." He walked into bed and curled up, deciding to get some sleep, setting his alarm for noon. It didn't take him long to drift into the realm of slumber until the loud beeping woke him up, but it wasn't from his alarm, instead his television.

"We'd like to apologize for the interruption. As of now, we're bringing you a live worldwide broadcast from Interpol, ICPO."

Light yawned, rubbing his eyes, "Interpol?"

"We now take you live to the ICPO." The image changed to a new man, who began talking and had a look to him as though he wasn't paid enough for this shit.

"I head up an International Police Task Force, which includes all member nations. I am Lind L. Tailor, otherwise known as L."

Light blinked a couple times, before laughing, "Oh bullshit, that's not L's voice at all. Hey, L, are you seeing this? Some guy is pretending to be you!"

...

L smiled, pleased that Light had so quickly figured it out. It certainly made the chances of him being Kira lower, directly telling L about the imposter.

But he didn't say anything, wanting to see what Light would do.

...

"Criminals around the world are being murdered by a serial killer." The L imposter said, "I consider this crime to be the most atrocious act of murder in history. I will not rest until the person or persons responsible are brought to justice. Kira, I will hunt you down. I will find you."

"He seems confident he'll catch you," Ryuk said, noticing Light's eyes had widened and he had taken a couple steps back as though physically struck,

"Is—Is this what L really thinks? Even if this is a stand-in to test Kira... I'm just trying to better the world, why won't he understand?! But... He'll never find me." He nodded to himself, wiping at the tears trying to force themselves out, "He'll have to get the notebook first. And as long as the police don't find it, there won't be any evidence to convict me, which means catching me will be absolutely impossible. Even if they do, what can they do against me?" He forced himself to relax, "I anticipated that the police would get involved and that something like this might happen."

"Kira, I've got a pretty good idea of what your motivation might be," Lind L. Tailor said, "And I can guess what you hope to achieve. However, what you're doing right now is evil." Light trembled, both because he was hurt, and also furious.

"You think… I'm evil? No. I'm not. I'm protecting the world! This might be L trying to rile me up, and if this is indeed what he thinks, he doesn't know what it's like to be shunned your whole life!"

"Uh... Light..." Light whirled around to face Ryuk, only to notice in the mirror that he had shifted, eyes glowing brightly enough to illuminate the room, "I'm not corrupting, Ryuk. Just a little upset. But whether I like it or not, this man isn't a criminal." Then he saw a flash behind his eyes, of himself killing Lind L. Tailor and the real L appearing on the screen. This really was a trap on L's part. Of course... he was testing whether Light was Kira by saying things he knew would get under his skin.

He frowned, realizing that if he hadn't seen that, L's plan might have worked. But no, he couldn't let himself stoop that low, or the whole point of his goal would be useless if people saw him as just another killer.

But he still felt dread in the pit of his stomach, and the idea L meant all of that, and it wasn't like he could ask.

Forcing himself to take his mind off it, he turned off the television and grabbed a book to read, knowing no new names would appear until the broadcast was over.

...

L felt Light's distress. It was a cute little quirk of Light's that would come in handy during this investigation—if his emotions got extreme enough that he started shifting, he would subconsciously force those feelings down their bond. 

Meaning that while Light had no idea what L was feeling, L could sense that distress, pain, anger, and then saddened acceptance. Light knew he did this sometimes, but only ever realized he was doing it if L said something, which he didn't plan to do this time.

But this did help support his theory—what Light was feeling. Those words Lind L. Tailor said had been designed to get under Kira's skin, or someone who knew Kira on a personal level. He remembered that pulse a week ago of the most excitement L had ever felt from Light, and him saying he had found someone who understood him. L had been happy for him until people started dying strictly during the daytime.

This meant that either Light was Kira, or he knew Kira.

However, he wondered how he was going to use this as evidence. If he told the police that he was the Sun and had been testing the Moon's emotions, that could send Light's father into a rage of confronting his son even if Light wasn't Kira at all. And if he was, L knew Light well enough to know that if it was his own father yelling at him, he might lose control of his powers, which he didn't know how to use. The last thing L wanted was for Light to realize while either panicked or livid that he could control time.

But if Light was Kira, L couldn't bring himself to be mad. If Light was human, what he would be doing was evil probably out of some God complex, but L knew Light would only be doing or allowing this if his despair had reached the point he just wanted people to appreciate the night and had given up on waiting. 

He hoped that he would be able to talk Light out of this or convince him to help them catch Kira when they met in person. He hadn't corrupted, meaning he was capable of recognizing reason. But what would happen if Light refused to stop?

L tried not to think of what might come if that happened.


	4. Chapter 4

"We brought the FBI to Japan four days ago." Watari told L through the computer as L got up to raise the sun, ebony hair turning shining gold as he did so, "They are fully operational. As requested, they're now gathering intel on the police."

L walked over as his hair and eyes returned to normal, and his wings retracted, hiding and leaving no trace of them. He held up some papers, "And this is the complete list?"

"Yes."

L bit his thumb. _There are one hundred forty-one people in the police force who have access to classified information regarding the investigation. I am sure somewhere in this list of the police officers and the people closest to them, we will find our suspect. If it comes down to it, I may ask Light to join the investigation._

He thought back to the broadcast and chuckled. Even if Kira hadn't killed Lind L. Tailor, the police knew some connection to Kira was in Japan. Why? Because around the time Light had turned off the broadcast, L's stand-in had been killed by a murder of angry crows.

Now, this had meant nothing to those who knew Light Yagami had this unusual ability with animals. Another reason those ignorant to the real powers of the Sun and Moon to believed him to be the wrong element. While the Sun stands for life, the Moon stands for fertility, which is much more appealing to animals. It's a subtle difference, but it was enough of one that animals mostly just gossiped around L, but would die _and kill_ for Light, even without Light being aware of it.

Again, most of the police understand that a comment made by Lind L. Tailor, which was subtly throwing shade at the nighttime, could be the culprit, and L knew Light had turned off the television before hearing that. But it was the fact the man ended up dead that allowed the members of the ICPO who didn't know about this power to appreciate L's abilities and understand Kira was in Japan.

L knew that even if Mr. Yagami wasn't on the task force, he would have an agent keep an eye on Light, just in case.

OoOoO

Light walked home from school, sighing as he heard chirping and realized another bird had hatched in his hair. He didn't know why, but birds loved to sit in his hair and lay eggs, and it had gotten to a point people stopped questioning it, and he stopped noticing. Seriously, and they seemed to hatch faster while in his hair. Maybe it was because the Moon had connections to fertility? Unfortunately, this was yet another power that people associated with the Sun.

He reached up and cupped the baby owl in his hands, smiling as it nuzzled close to him like something out of a Disney movie. He had a feeling there were more eggs in his hair, but he didn't really care. He'd get them out when he got home. 

Holding the owlet close to keep it warm and safe from the December chills, Light turned when he heard Ryuk, who was hovering next to him,

"Light, you got a second?"

"I've already told you, Ryuk. You can't talk to me in public." 

"In that case, I'll talk, you listen. If you don't want to hear me, you can plug your ears or something. First of all, I don't have anything against you. I actually think the notebook couldn't have been picked up by a better person since you're immortal and, therefore, many millennia worth of amusement. I'm here 'cause I have to stick around till the Death Note is finished or I see you die, whichever comes first. But make no mistake, Light, I'm not on your side or L's side."

"Yeah. Well, I knew that much already." Light replied, a little hurt. He knew but did hope maybe he and Ryuk were friends in a sense. Well, Ryuk hadn't directly denied _that_.

"You'll never hear me say anything about whether what you're doing is right or wrong. I'm not here to support you or give you my opinion. I'm just a spectator, but as your roommate, I might have a few things to say now and then."

"What's this about, Ryuk? Why are you telling me all this stuff now, anyway? It's really not like you."

"It's just that I'm no ally of yours, or Kira's if you prefer. The only reason I'm going to tell you this is because, personally, it is starting to creep me out."

"Hm?" Ryuk leaned close, almost whispering in Light's ear,

"You are being followed by a human. He's watching you right now. It's really starting to creep me out. I realize there's no way he can see me, but because I'm always following behind you wherever you go, I feel like I'm constantly being watched."

But Light just chuckled. This wasn't the first time he had been stalked, this would be stalker.... 86. Of this year alone. But there was a little worry because he had been using files from his Dad's work to get more info on the case. 

_Who would be following me? Does this mean L is already starting to suspect the police? If he's gonna investigate the police, he'll need a lot of resources and manpower. Even if he has as many as fifty people on the case, I don't see how they could ever figure out that I'm Kira. I know I'm not anything like your average high school senior, the bird in my hand is proof of that, but there is a difference between Moon God and Kira_ —well, there isn't, but people don't know that _. But the longer I let this person keep following me, the higher the chance is they'll figure out who I really am._

He got home and closed the door, deciding to write down some names while he had some daylight hours left. If this person hadn't gone by the time he had to begin the night, he would have a feel for what kind of stalker he was dealing with. There was a chance seeing him undress would make the person leave for the night, but this might also be something of L's doing. He needed to figure that out.

The baby owl was watching him with big curious eyes, asking him what he was doing. Light smiled, gently using his index finger to stroke the little animal, which he decided to name Branwen, sensing it was a girl.

Then he heard noises and got up to check on the kittens he found the other day, which had been abandoned. This was unacceptable in Light's book, so he took care of them and was trying to find them good homes.

There were four kittens, all roughly eight weeks old, and tabby in either grey or rusty orange. He quickly fed them and got back to writing names, yawning, and taking a long drink from his coffee.

"Light, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret." Ryuk said, "What makes a Shinigami and a human who has a Death Note different? Well, there are two things. And why do Shinigami have to write the names of humans in their Death Notes? You got any ideas?"

"Of course not. You know, you sure are talkative today."

"It's because we can take human lifespans for ourselves."

Light looked up, "Huh? Wait, what do you mean by that?"

"Let's say you have a human who is due to live until the age of sixty, and a God of Death wrote that this person would die at forty." Ryuk explained, "Sixty minus forty equals twenty. Now those twenty years taken from someone in the human world are added to that God of Death's life. So it means that as long as we don't slack off, even if someone was to shoot us in the head or stab us in the heart with a knife, a God of Death cannot be killed by a mortal weapon. On the other hand, no matter how many names a human writes in the Death Note, their lifespan will not increase. That is the first difference between the Gods of Death and humans who possess a Death Note."

Light nodded a little, "That's something about Shinigami that I haven't heard before. Pretty interesting stuff. But I'm not human, so does that apply to me?"

"Who can say? Seeing as the Sun and Moon die together, I would say it's probably not the case unless your little sunshine also has one of these."

"Could you not call him that?" Light asked with a concerned expression.

"You call him sunshine though."

"But, it's so creepy coming from you." Ryuk huffed,

"Fine. I won't finish what I was going to say." Light blinked,

"Hm?" Ryuk laughed,

"Apples, and I'll talk." Light was actually really curious now, but it was too late, since the sun was setting, so it was time to begin nighttime.

As he did that, he decided to bathe the kittens gently, and Branwen was sitting on his shoulder as he did so. The cats stared at the bird but did nothing, to please their Moon and caretaker.

When he got back to his room and managed to dry them off, he noticed it was seven, and his stalker was still here. His brow furrowed, but he decided not to ask L about it. The last time he had gone to L about a stalker, his father had gotten an anonymous tip, and that, while sweet, was humiliating.

Sayu came in, "Hey, Light, dinner's ready. Do you..." she looked at the cats and the owl, "I'll just bring your dinner up here. We don't want them running amok." Light smiled,

"Thanks, Sayu." Since Light had animals in his room so often, his parents had given up on having him join them for dinner for the most part, and honestly, Light usually felt awkward during family meals.

Eating some chicken quietly, he tore off a small piece to give to Branwen and grabbed some kibble for the kittens. Ryuk watched this,

"For someone who kills people, you certainly are soft."

"They understand me." Light said, "They're innocent. But I should probably be studying." He changed into his pajamas, wondering if seeing him shirtless would make his stalker go away. 

It was around two in the morning when he noticed the stalker was still there, and Light decided to do something about it, grabbing the kittens in the box and flying subtly down behind the man, "Why have you been watching me?"

The man turned, "How did you..." he frowned at the cats, and Light smiled sweetly.

"I'm flattered, really. I'll make sure you get one of the mandatory stalker notes." He gestured to the box, "I found these kittens the other day, and they need good homes. Want one? Oh, can I have your name so I can ask some doves or something to bring you the letter?"

"The what?"

"Oh, I've had some incidents with my stalkers being murdered by crows, so the police have me give all my stalkers those notes to warn them about the danger, and if they end up dead, I am not to blame since I can't really control the birds but I did give a warning." As though to prove a point, another bird hatched in Light's hair. The man stared, gaping, and Light held out the box. His stalker took a grey kitten, looking a little awkward,

"Um... goodnight." 

"Goodnight." Light said and smirked a little as he noticed a badge on the ground, pulled out by a Japanese Raccoon Dog, which handed it to Light. Reading the name, he relaxed. Raye Penber, FBI agent. "Hey! You dropped this," he called, giving the badge back and grinning, flying back up to his bedroom. Now he had the man's name and face, but he had no plans of killing him. That was wrong. But it was comforting that this wasn't a stalker. 

Still, he pulled out the mandatory stalker note and called for a dove, "Bring this to Raye Penber's house." The dove took the letter and obeyed, and Light could have sworn he felt some amusement down his bond with L.


	5. Chapter 5

A couple days later, L knew that Kira was connected to Light. However, Raye Penber had told his higher-ups about the bird warning, and thus the FBI, followed soon by the majority of the task force, decided that messing with the Sun—insert groans from L and Light here—was suicide. 

After that, L had gotten a call from Naomi, the one person besides Watari, to know the truth about what L was. She was a close friend of his, and her family had been worshipping the Sun for years. She was the first person he had ever blessed, granting her some power of her own. Not much, just longevity and the ability to heal from any wound during the day. She had gotten shot once since that happened, and a golden scar remained on her bicep from it.

Naomi and Raye had decided they wanted to remain on the investigation, so they were going to be welcome additions to the task force. Right now, L was getting ready to meet the remainders of the task force, and hoped they wouldn't know for a while that he was the Sun. All that bowing and "my lord" crap made him sick just thinking about it.

He heard the door open and walked over to them, letting himself look as bored as he felt, "I am L." He smiled a little when he heard the murmurs of shock, then grew annoyed and realized how screwed they were when they told him their full names and showed their badges. It seemed Naomi and himself were the only ones with half a brain. 

"If I were Kira, you would be dead, Superintendant Soichiro Yagami. You already know that all Kira needs is a face and a name, don't you? Please don't give out your names so carelessly." He gestured for them to follow, "Let's value our lives. Please turn off all cell phones, laptops, and other electronic devices and place them on that table."

"L, do you think that we'd have our phones on to leak information?" Matsuda asked. "I know he's cautious, but... I still can't tell if he trusts us or not."

"No," L sat down, "I just can't stand it when people's cell phones go off when I'm talking. Let me start by saying, please do not take any notes on anything we say here at this headquarters. Please keep all of it in your head. Please, sit wherever you like. Two other members of the task force will be here tomorrow, FBI agents who aren't afraid of the mandatory stalker note." He chuckled a little, remembering many times he had been told by Light about the stalkers. If the birds didn't get them, L sent anonymous messages to the chief.

"Um, L..."

"When you refer to me from now on, I wish to be called Ryuzaki, not L. Just to be safe."

"Oh, then, Ryuzaki..." Matsuda said, "If you know that a face and a name are needed, couldn't we cut down the number of victims by censoring crime reports?"

"If we do that, then ordinary people may be killed." L replied as though the answer was obvious,

"Ordinary people? Why?"

"Kira's motivation is connected directly to the injustice between day and night." He spoke slow, as though talking to small children, to get the point across that if they hadn't realized this, they hadn't been paying attention very well. "These killings are meant to show the night can be safe too, but think. Why do these killings only occur during the day? Kira is also killing to prove it's dangerous during the day. And there is also a high chance the Moon is directly connected. I doubt he is actually Kira, but I wouldn't be surprised if he _knows_ Kira—whether this connection is known to the Moon, I can't tell you."

He noticed the chief grow uncomfortable, "What makes you think the Moon is involved in this?"

"The Moon, or should I say Light Yagami, has a phenomenal connection to animals and wildlife, as proven by my double's death. But the thing is, did Light order the birds to attack? He is bound to have been shunned most of his life, and we don't currently have Nightmare Moon on our hands, so what would have made this particular instance different?"

"Even with his Moon powers, Light can't control the birds, right?" Aizawa asked, "That's why the NPA made sure the mandatory stalker notes were a thing." Ah, so the people here _did_ know Light was the Moon before. 

"That's right." Soichiro replied, "Ryuzaki, how do you know about Light?"

"Unlike most of the world, I know what the Sun and Moon actually represent. It's not like Light hides it much. The Stars still elude me, but Sun and Moon are both known to me." He grabbed a marker, "But back to the case. So far, Kira himself seems relatively passive, but for all we know, that could change if criminals are no longer available." He stood up dramatically, pretending to be Kira,

"If you won't give me your criminals, then I'll kill those who've committed lesser crimes or even the innocent. The whole world is my hostage! I'm not the evil one. Those who oppose me and hide evil-doers are!" He sat back down, knowing that if Light actually was Kira, this was likely to be not true. But there was still a chance someone much more trigger-happy was.

"That is Kira's mental process. Speaking of the mass media, let's think of ways we can use it to our advantage. But not yet. As of now, I would like to place surveillance cameras in the Yagami household, so we can learn exactly what the connection is between Light and Kira. There is a chance Kira is looking to be blessed by Light."

"Blessed?" Mogi asked, and L nodded,

"It's something the Sun and Moon can do for loyal followers. Most of these people reside in the sanctuaries. But blessing someone gives them longevity and the ability to heal under the specific cycle. So say someone blessed by the Sun was shot, they would heal during the day but not at night. Someone with the Sun's blessing would also be given strength beyond the average human, while the Moon's would likely involve that animal connection." 

"T-That's interesting..." Matsuda said, "How do you know so much?"

"Simple. I know the Sun."

"What's he like?" Soichiro asked, "You know, as a father curious to my son's soulmate."

"Not what you'd expect." Was all L said, "Honestly, I sometimes wonder if he and Light were given the wrong powers." 

"Can we get back to the case?" Aizawa asked, and L nodded,

"Gladly."

...

While L met with the task force, Light and Ryuk were playing video games, and Light was enjoying himself. This was the first time that he could play games with someone else. His sister only really cared about stereotypical girly things and talking for hours on the phone, unless she needed his help on her homework.

Ryuk beat him again, and Light grinned, actually having a challenge. He then looked away, a little embarrassed, "Thanks, Ryuk, for coming into my life. It's like for the first time I finally have a friend who I can talk to in person, and play games with."

Ryuk stared at him blankly for a moment, before laughing, "Listen, I like you, kid. But this is just entertainment, you know? Hey, I thought you understood that."

Light blinked a few times, processing what was being said. He had been wrong... they weren't friends.

"Oh... Okay..." 

...

It was at that moment Ryuk knew he had royally fucked up. He didn't want to tell the young Moon the truth about what had happened thousands of years ago, and any Shinigami being near the Moon proved risky, as he might find out the truth about what he was. And Ryuk knew that if Light figured it out, it would be Ryuk's ass on the line.

So it was best to hide the fact he actually did care about the boy.

Or at least that's what he had thought until he felt the magic in the room shift and knew that Light's mental state was dancing along a fine line. The last thing the world needed was Nightmare Moon, that was even worse!

Quickly, he flew out of the house to give Light some time to himself, to hopefully calm himself.

He just hoped Light would still be himself when he got back.

...

In the Kansai Region of Japan, Misa Amane shot awake in a cold sweat, feeling the pain of the Moon. 

As the Stars, Misa wasn't nearly as powerfully connected to the Moon as the Sun was, but she could sense severe pain from him.

Getting dressed into a casual grey-blue shirt and some form-fitting navy jeans, she let her wings out as her blonde hair turned shining silver. This wasn't the first time she had felt him, but this time it was so powerful that she could get a feel for where he was.

It was her job, as the Stars, to protect the Moon. And she knew this one was younger than her. He needed a friend. Had he met the Sun yet? Probably not. 

She walked onto her balcony and jumped out the window, wings tearing out of her back as she flew, determined to find him. It had been far too long, but now she had the connection she needed to locate him.


	6. Chapter 6

As a courtesy to the chief, L had the rest of the task force doing meaningless busy work while only he and Soichiro monitored the Yagami household.

L bit his thumb as he observed his suspect and soulmate's approach, eagerness bubbling up. For the first time, he was going to see his Moon's face. But how would Mr. Yagami react if he found out that the detective next to him was the person his son would be spending the many millennia with? It was moments like this that L was glad he had no physical proof of what he was unless he got extremely distressed—which had only happened twice in his whole life and only for a few seconds—and if he was beginning the day.

To the casual observer, Light looked just fine, perfectly normal, even serene... but L was trained to read specific subtle body language cues, and if he reached out, he could feel what Light was feeling. To L, Light was screaming that he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Your son has come home..." L quietly informed the chief.

On the monitors, they watched as Light greeted an empty house. The chief had sent his wife and daughter out shopping so that L's people could install the cameras that very afternoon and, of course, hadn't informed Light.

Upon receiving no answer, Light went about closing and locking the front door, obsessively aligning his shoes in the closet, and walking stiffly up the stairs, then entered the bathroom.

...

_"This is just entertainment… I thought you understood that."_

Light closed and locked the door and leaned against it for a good minute...

_Well, what did you expect, he's a Shinigami!_

His grip loosened on his bookbag until he just let it fall.

_...So stupid!_

The bag thudded dully on the bathroom tiles. Light continued to stare vacantly off into space...

_I—I thought I had a friend... someone who understood me. I just want someone to love me for me. L doesn't know me, six years isn't even up until April!_

...

L spared a glance at the chief... yes, apparently this behavior wasn't normal. He fought back the twisting in his stomach in the burning in his eyes, because Light was unintentionally pushing bits and pieces of his thoughts into L's mind. He couldn't understand all of it, but what he did get was something about a friend and their six-year agreement. L already knew how he could use that meeting to his advantage, and he found that no more was much left to the imagination, having been so curious about what Light looked like.

Light leaned against the door, and, to both L and the chief's shock, an illusion faded, revealing his eyes had been turquoise the whole time. Then he slowly slid down the edge of the counter, becoming a heap on the floor. Then the microphones picked up a choked sob... the first of many…

Well, L couldn't say he was too surprised. He knew Light was depressed and lonely, so he had expected to see something like this, just not so soon.

An idea popped into L's head, that what if that friend Light had been thinking about was Kira, someone who he had felt understood him, only to find out was a murderer, putting the Moon at an even worse place. L found himself hoping that wasn't the case.

L heard a gasp from next to him. "Light..."

Of course, the chief wouldn't see a suspect at the moment—all he could see was his child suffering... not that L could blame him, currently viewing his _other half_ racked with misery.

...

Light clenched his fists as so much pent up... everything came pouring out...

_When did this happen?! Why has having a friend become more important to me than my mission? Is it too much to ask for... I just want a friend. Don't I deserve love too?_

...

It just then occurred to L...

_Is he going to...? What if he...? Please no..._

L called upon his headset. "Mr. Mogi. Are you in position?"

_"The target's inside."_

"Standby and await my instructions. Be ready to force entry..." L made a few other calls and acquisition some emergency personnel, also on standby. He knew Light by nature was going to live for thousands of years, but he didn't know if he or Light could be killed or injured if they did the deed to themselves.

"L?" Mr. Yagami was puzzled by L's actions but didn't take his eyes off the monitors, still gaping at this stranger that had stolen his son's skin...

"All we can do is keep watching him... but just in case..."

"Of—Of what?"

L sighed. You didn't even have to be the top three detectives in the world to see that the boy was very emotionally unstable. He didn't need to be able to feel Light's emotions to know he had been depressed for years, and his father not understanding was a factor in his misery.

"He may try to kill himself." L stated bluntly.

Before the suspect's horrified father could respond to that, something else caught their attention. That the sobs were giving way to a more unnerving sound—the giggles bubbled up from Light's throat and crescendoed into full-on maniacal laughter...

Mr. Yagami gaped open-mouthed as his "perfect son" made sounds that had no place outside of a mental institution.

Even L was unnerved, and that turned to genuine terror as Light's eyes flew open, only that turquoise was glowing, illuminating the room when the lightbulb burst and stopped working, and dark energy started surrounding Light body. L whirled to look at the chief, who looked confused, as though he didn't know Light could do this.

Light whimpered pitifully in between the choked giggle-sobs as he stripped and dragged himself, still trembling, across the floor, crawling on all fours into the shower. And L noticed that Light was in some sort of pain. His eyes widened as he realized that Light's power was starting to corrupt, as proven by his hands and forearms turning black, his nails becoming claws. 

Getting a good look at it since L could see perfectly in the dark, it seemed to have been going on for a couple hours with how slowly it worked. That had to have been incredibly difficult to hide and explained why he was choosing to wear baggy clothes.

He saw Light pull his knees up to his chest and sob, hugging himself pitifully.

L felt a possessive growl bubble up in the back of his throat. _He's degrading himself like this? Friend... Who's your friend, Light? Who did this to you?!_

The chief finally couldn't take it anymore and turned away as his son, still crying, started glowing and screaming, releasing bursts of his power and cracking the shower's porcelain slightly. Mr. Yagami may not know what was going on, but L knew there was no point in hiding his secret right now if Light was potentially in the middle of corrupting. He had to stop this before it was too late! And he knew if he ever found the one who made his kind Moon feel this way, they were going to _pay_.

L knew he would be invading their privacy, but he didn't expect to see something like this quite so soon... he sighed, speaking to Light,

"Light, what's wrong?" Soichiro's eyes widened, looking between L acting as thought talking to Light in person, and then back to the television when Light's breakdown came to a slow stop, and he blinked a few times.

"L—L..." 

"You started pushing thoughts to me again. I didn't get all of it, just something about a friend?"

"Yeah—Yeah..." Light hugged himself tighter, "I thought I found a friend who liked me for me, even with the night and me being the Moon. He's the first one besides you to know I'm the Moon and befriend me for that. Or... Or I thought so... I told him I was glad to have a friend, and he said I was just entertainment." Light started crying again, and L felt such fury that he saw in a mirror in the corner that his own eyes had gone molten gold, and hair briefly glowing the same color. Someone hurt his Moon, his other half.

He could tell that Mr. Yagami didn't care at the moment that L was the Sun, rather what he heard through the cameras, that someone had hurt his son. L forced himself to relax because the last thing he needed was for his emotions to force a disaster in the cycle of day and night.

"I'm sorry about that. Whoever that person is doesn't deserve to be your friend. We're going to be meeting soon..."

"93 days. April 5th." L paused, wondering if Light was really so lonely to know that number off the top of his head. He checked a calendar on his laptop and saw that, yes, those numbers added up. But seeing for himself how distraught and miserable Light was, he didn't want to wait that long.

"You know, I'm actually going to be at the To-Oh university entrance exams. That's in... sixteen days, right? Do you want to meet up after the test?"

What was he doing? He was letting his feelings get in the way of the case. But... he had been waiting for _years_ to meet Light in person, and it was clear he needed a friend. And if Light was Kira, what could he do? Light was the Moon, and there was no way to contain his power without more magic. L knew that unless Light posed an active danger, using _that_ spell was out of the question. If Kira was an average person, he could do something, but if it was Light, the most he could do was talk to him, try getting through to him, and hope it doesn't lead to him becoming corrupted. Light killing people in secret in an attempt to prove a point was one thing, but going insane and trying to kill the Sun was another. Thankfully, Light hadn't reached that point yet.

Kira could be the chosen of the Stars... L humored the idea for a moment, deciding he would look into it.

"I would really like that," Light said, "How am I going to recognize you. You don't know what I look like, either."

"Trust me, you'll be able to figure it out. Remember what I said six years ago, I'm no suave blonde beauty—quite the opposite, in fact."

He watched as Light visibly relaxed, and the signs of corruption began to fade slowly, but there was still apparent emotional distress in the form of his eyes. But Light managed to get out of the shower and dressed, and it was then that both L and Soichiro watched as Light grabbed some makeup out of a secret drawer and started applying it expertly to the bags under his eyes. Then he schooled his features until he looked calm, cheery, and perfectly contented with life, and then he left the bathroom.

"Oh, Light..." Soichiro got up to leave, but L stopped him.

"Mr. Yagami... You can't talk to him about this!"

"I'm his father! I can't just—"

"Listen, I understand how you feel, I've been talking to him for six years, but we shouldn't jump to conclusions..."

"What other conclusion is there?!" Soichiro Yagami was a desk cop. He abhorred violence and had never once fired a gun in anger. But right now he wasn't a police officer, he was just a father, and he only wanted to find the sick son of a bitch who had hurt his child and put a bullet between his eyes.

"If you do, you could jeopardize the case and put countless more lives at risk! Think about this rationally, how did you know? How did you come to this conclusion? He'll know he's being watched!"

"He can't be Kira! Now we know what he was hiding!"

"I'm sorry, but Light hasn't been hiding this." L felt his rage bubbling up, as though the moment the chief knew without a fraction of doubt that L was the Sun, he let out all those rage-filled emotions he had felt at this man for not giving Light the assurance and love he deserved. "Do you know that the first time Light and I ever talked, he was sobbing? Do you have any idea the number of nights I've had to assure him that I was here and he wasn't hated by the world?! _You_ made it worse too, he has had to rely on someone who is basically a stranger to—!" he took a step back, forcing himself to calm down as he noticed he had temporarily blinded the chief, had kicked a man when he was down.

"If you want to help him, just say you haven't been around as much and try to call out the makeup covering the shadows under his eyes. Or try saying you noticed he looked upset and he can always come to you if he needs it. You have no idea how important Light's mental health is for the world's sake. If he snaps and becomes corrupted, which he started doing moments ago, I will have no choice but to banish his soul for a thousand years. I trust that neither of us wants that."

Soichiro scrambled up, "Banished for a thousand years?!"

"Yes. There is no way to kill someone like him unless another God does it during a battle, and even then, it's unknown if the other actually _dies_. So forcefully separating the soul from the body would be the only way to prevent him from being a danger. If he is Kira, I know why he is doing it, and it is the fault of society and the people he is surrounded by if I can't get through to him." He let that sink in, looking out the window and deciding that a longer night sounded nice tonight. "And now that you know what I am, I ask you to not treat me any differently. I have no interest in being worshipped."

"I would never have guessed you were the Sun." Soichiro looked him up and down, "How old are you?"

"Ah, I saw this coming, and that's why I didn't meet up with Light the moment we started talking six years ago. I'm twenty-four."

"You..." it was clear there were tons of less-than-polite things the chief wanted to say about how much older his basically son-in-law was than Light, but then decided to say nothing because this was still L, his boss. And wasn't that a thought? It was clear that Mr. Yagami didn't see L as a God and more, "oh no, this is my son's soulmate." 

"Don't worry, I'm not going to be trying anything. I will meet with Light soon and even ask him if he wants to join the investigation." 

...

When Light went to his room, butterflies in his stomach at the idea L cared enough about him to push the meeting so soon—he got excited just thinking about it. There was still a pain in his chest, but talking to L had made it better and easier to handle. He knew that as Kira, L was his enemy, but it wasn't like Kira would be able to kill him, and what could mortal weapons do against Light? 

His eyes widened as he found that the door handle was out of alignment, and the pencil lead was broken...

_Someone's been in my room. And the paper is back in place, so it wasn't Mom or Sayu... That leaves the possibility of either Kira investigators or pedophile rapists... beautiful. My desk isn't in flames, so at least the Death Note is safe. Nothing is missing or out of place... They didn't take anything so... That probably means they gained entry to install cameras and wiretaps... meaning someone is watching me right now and..._

That thought came crashing down, realizing now that L had probably been _watching_. Had seen him break down. How pathetic had he looked to the superdetective?

Walking around, putting his backpack down, he noticed Ryuk wasn't here. Just as well. Light looked at his hands and the discoloration that had been bothering him all day. It had taken a hell of a lot of effort to prevent his emotions from Ryuk's revelation and throughout the day from bleeding over to L, making it harder than it would typically be to avoid this. It was going down, but his hands were still black. He imagined meeting L, talking to him face to face, and his hands returned to normal much faster, and he went about getting the kittens out from under his bed to feed them. 

There were cameras in the house, and that meant using the Death Note would be harder... or would it? He could fly, so it wouldn't be hard to decide to leave the house for a "walk" with a hidden piece of notebook and fly to the city to write names. But what if someone was watching near the house... he giggled a little, deciding to test out one of his powers—illusions. He'd used it today to keep his actual eye color hidden and make sure nobody saw the clawed hands. If he had actually been in danger of corrupting, he would have gone to L for help since the fate of the world was more important than a six-year agreement. But he'd known that with a little time he should be able to push through it.

He grabbed his wallet, changed into his afterschool clothes, and walked downstairs, using an illusion to make himself invisible while his copy walked a couple blocks. He noticed from far above that Mogi started following the fake, while Light took off into the city to begin writing names. A dozen were being mentioned, so he wrote them down to die at different times in the next hour and a half.

He had been flying home soon after but did not expect to crash into a girl while flying hundreds of feet above the city. His illusion dropped, and he had to focus his energy on keeping the one Mogi was following up, and now having it feed some 'animals.'

"Woah!" He blinked at this girl, taking a moment to recognize her. She was pretty, with long blonde hair in a braided ponytail over her shoulder, form-fitting dark jeans, and a grey-blue shirt. Her wings were much like Light's own, except sparkling silver. Light's eyes widened as he understood exactly who she was, and it didn't take her very long to realize his identity. "Hi," he said awkwardly, holding out a hand, "I'm Light Yagami. You?" In reality, he was really excited right now, because this was the Stars!

"I'm Misa Amane," she said softly, "I felt your distress and was able to track you down to Tokyo." Oh, that was right, Ryuk had said something about the Stars having the duty to protect the Moon.

"Well, I'm okay now. Do you... Do you wanna come over to my place?" he looked down at his feet hanging limply below him because he was awful at talking to people when he actually cared. Misa nodded,

"I'd love to." Light's eyes widened, 

"Alright, so there are cameras at my house because of the Kira investigation. I've got a cop on a goose chase, watching an illusion of me. So I'm going to fly back and swap back, and I'll meet you at the park, and we walk home together?" 

"Sure." She winked playfully, looking down at where the park was, "Race you." She shot down, and Light beamed, flying down and swapping back with the illusion and walking to the park, where he saw Misa and waved to her, 

"Misa!" Misa turned and ran over. 

"I've wanted to meet you for a long time." She wrapped an arm around his shoulder in a way that Light had seen friends do, and he relaxed. She was the Stars, they could be friends, right?

"I was starting to think there wasn't a chosen of the Stars this time." Light said, and Misa shrugged, putting her hands on her hips,

"Trust me, when you're a model and actress, it comes in pretty handy to be able to blast away stalkers."

"You're a model?!" he gaped, looking her up and down. He could definitely see it. She nodded,

"Misa-Misa!" Then she huffed, "But when you're a God, you become more aware of people just trying to exploit you for your talents. I already get tons of stalkers and psycho burglars." She cocked her head at him, "Do you have that problem?" Light nodded, then chuckled,

"But they usually get killed by birds. No, I'm not kidding. The police have me confront my stalkers and give them a letter, warning them about the murder of crows, pun not intended." Misa laughed,

"I usually have to blast mine into oblivion. It's really annoying. I just want to take a lovely night stroll, and if I could _not_ get jumped, that would be great." She said this sarcastically, which Light hadn't expected from a model, but he could tell she meant it genuinely. "Speaking of which," she turned back in the other direction and pulled Mogi out from an alleyway, "What the hell have you been doing following us?!" 

"Mogi?" Light acted surprised, walking over, realizing that even if he hadn't told Misa about this, she probably had a sort of PTSD induced 6th sense for being followed. "What are you doing here?"

And for the first time ever, he heard L mutter "shit" down their bond, clearly unintentionally. Ah, so L was having him followed and probably suspected him of being Kira.

Honestly, Light had spent today wondering if he should even be doing this, taking lives, being Kira. He didn't want to fight L or have his soulmate always doubting a little bit. Maybe he could pass the baton to someone else?

"Don't worry, Misa, he's a friend of the family." Light covered for Mogi, "Dad's working right now. Do you need anything?"

Mogi straightened as Misa relaxed and walked with them, all three of them walking back to the house. "Actually, your father asked me to check on you. He said he got a call from your school today that you seemed really upset about something, and he said that he was going to be home tonight, but wanted to make sure you weren't going to..." 

Light smiled, "It's okay, Mogi. I've just not been sleeping well the last couple days and have been more tired than usual," he gestured to Misa, "This is Misa, she's a friend of mine." He invited them both in and laughed when he noticed the raccoon dogs had gotten in again and were making tea. He took the drink from them, making sure it was actually drinkable and not accidental poison, and once he was satisfied, poured some for his guests. 

He noticed that Mogi totally looked like he had been improvising his excuse for following them and was thinking, "oh my god, that worked?!" He was amused by that.

Sayu came home and was startled by Light chatting and having tea with two new people. Then she recognized Misa and squealed, "Misa-Misa?!"

Misa rolled her eyes, "Here we go."

Overall, Light was enjoying himself immensely, but his brow furrowed when he started feeling jealousy from L.

That night, Misa stayed, and they raised the Moon and Stars together, laughing all the while, then she went home after giving him her phone number. Then Light entered his room and saw Ryuk, and was silent as he changed into a warmer jacket and jumped off the balcony and flew, so L wouldn't hear this conversation.

"Hey, kid, I need to talk to you about something." Light narrowed his eyes in the direction of the Shinigami,

"What? You want apples?"

"Well, yes, but that's not it." Ryuk flew closer to him, "I... I actually like you, Light, like a friend. But you have to understand—"

"Understand what?"

Ryuk hesitated, "I'm a Shinigami, and you're the Moon."

"Yes, I believe I'm perfectly aware of that. What does that have to do with me just being an apple provider and entertainment?"

"There's something about the Moon..." Ryuk said surprisingly anxiously, "The Old Man really doesn't like it when Shinigami get involved in the life of the Moon, so I guess I was more worried about my ass on the line." Light frowned,

"Why would the Shinigami King care?"

"Wouldn't know. Wasn't around back then." Now, of everything Ryuk said, Light sensed _that_ was the only lie. He paused, 

"So... I'm actually a friend..." Ryuk shrugged,

"The humans' concept of friend is something Shinigami don't have, so really that's your call. But from what I gather, I suppose you are."

And for Light, this was basically the best day ever. Three whole friends!

OoOoO

Sixteen days later, Light was up all night and had instead slept through the previous day, a bundle of nerves because today was the day he had to take the test and meet L in person! He wondered if he would be so excited about this is he was a regular guy with a magic murder notebook. Probably not. 

"You're sure excited." Ryuk mused as Light ate food and ran out the door, checking his messages from Misa who was wishing him good luck on the test, not even caring that he was going to be early for the test. He worried he wouldn't even be able to focus on the exam, eager to finish it fast. 

In the last two weeks, Misa had become a very close friend, almost like an older sister to Light. It had been surprising to learn she was actually almost two years older than him, which hadn't showed at all, so Misa was almost like family. He had been beyond relieved that she didn't view him as a God and didn't want to be his girlfriend, she just saw him as a person and treated him as such.

He sat down, and he almost immediately felt familiar magic behind him. L was right behind him, and he felt knots in his stomach.

 _"Hi, Light."_ He heard L's voice in his head, and he wanted to turn around so badly. No... that would be his reward for finishing this test to the best of his abilities.

Well, seeing as the test was elementary, this meant nothing. Light finished within twenty minutes—five of those minutes was him telling himself that he couldn't turn around yet. 

At the same moment, he stood up to turn in the exam and leave, someone else did, and they walked out together, and Light felt someone's hand brush against his, creating literal sparks. Light looked up and found himself staring into grey eyes, which moments ago had been gold.

L smiled a little, "It's about time, Light." He looked away, "I told you I'm not some beauty like what you would expect." He noticed then that Light was crying a bit, cupping his cheek.

"What are you talking about?" Light moved and was hugging L tightly, not wanting to let go, and L found himself returning it with all his heart.


	7. Chapter 7

"So, L, you're a detective?" Misa asked as she took a bite of her strawberry sundae. L had gotten chocolate, and Light got simple vanilla, and every now and then, they would try each other's flavors to see for future reference, which they preferred.

"Yes." L replied, "I'm working the Kira investigation. So, Misa, I have to ask—are you Kira? It's a popular theory going around the task force." Misa shrugged, but she noticed the tiniest of tenses in Light's shoulders. L saw it too, and both suspected the reason was that he didn't like the idea of needing to fight one of his fellow gods.

"I'm not Kira, but frankly, I understand what Kira is doing and believe in it." She replied, "A burglar came to my family home when I had gone out for a photo shoot. I came home and..." she trembled, "My parents were dead, and burglars were looting the place. I think they had tried to time it so I wouldn't be home, maybe they suspected what I am. I had to kill them myself... and if Kira can lower the crime rate, so no child has to suffer through what I did, I am fully supportive of that." She wiped her eyes and straightened, "However, ultimate power can corrupt, the same way all of us corrupt or begin to when extremely upset. I got close that day, so I know full well that while Kira may have a noble intention now, and be very careful about not harming innocents, how long until that changes?"

Light blinked a few times, realizing to his growing horror that he hadn't thought about the idea of the notebook corrupting him in its own way. The whole point was to make the world safer, and Misa was right about this being for the best. But it was at that moment he knew he had to for the sake of his own sanity—and just not wanting to fight L—get rid of the notebook. A human needed to wield that power, because if he, the Moon God, kept this power to kill, it may lead to a monster being unleashed. With a human, things going overboard would be manageable and efficiently dealt with.

L nodded, "Maybe it's because I'm immortal and therefore detached from the majority of mortals, but the idea of death isn't that big of a deal. Life is temporary." Light nodded,

"I've noticed that too. From the time I realized what I was, I've always been different from my peers and saw no point in trying to befriend them, even if, at the same time, I feel incredibly lonely. I think I've started settling as of the last couple of months, and it's already been getting worse."

"Settling does generally make it worse," Misa nodded to herself, "And what's worse? I'm going to be stuck as a model and harassed for thousands of years. I mean, yay for being young and beautiful and then suddenly poofing into dust or whatever happens in the next five to ten thousand years, but it still sucks."

Light leaned and stole a bite of Misa's sundae, "What exactly are we even going to do with thousands of years?"

"I have no idea." L replied, "I suppose books and Netflix are going to be our best friends. Honestly, the only reason I'm even a little bitter with Kira is that dropping the crime rate means I have fewer cases and, therefore, more boredom."

"So basically what we've learned is that it's no wonder immortals are portrayed as assholes in media," Misa replied, giggling, "It's offensive, but I'm nineteen and already seeing the accuracy."

"One of those sad truths." L put a finger to his lips, "I wonder what it would be like, spending a day as a human, not having to constantly worry about society's expectations. Oh, and Light, your powers are going to have a spike soon if you really are settling. From what I've read, it's going to be a little strange." They paid and got up, "We're also supposed to have some incantations that enhance our powers."

"Really?" L nodded,

"I tested out one of mine, and I learned that I can heal the sick and injured, and bring back the dead." Light crossed his arms,

"What's mine?"

"Death, basically. At least that's the base one. We're supposed to each have two."

Light shuddered, imagining if the Death Note did manage to warp his mind, and he had access to a death incantation on top of that. He looked up at Ryuk, knowing he would have to talk to the Shinigami about this soon. 

The three of them walked together to nowhere, in particular, just talking about the struggles of immortality. But at least they were all liking each other, so maybe millennia wouldn't be too miserable.

Misa had a skip in her step, bouncing her messy braided ponytail which had been resting peacefully over her shoulder before. 

"Misa-Misa!" Misa groaned as they were suddenly all surrounded by the paparazzi. On instinct, L clung to Light's arm, as he was frightened and unsure of what to do when surrounded by lots of people, only becoming more afraid when people kept trying to touch him.

"Oh, you much be the Moon!" One person said, and then looked up at Light, "I see you found him." Light just huffed, and Misa plastered on a smile but was also struggling with the press who had appeared. 

This went on for a few minutes until L's fear and anger at seeing Misa groped more than once, and Light being accused of being something he wasn't, caused L to look at his hands and see his power ready to assist. He growled, irises turning gold as he whirled around, each hair laced with a flame to the point it looked as though his hair was made entirely of fire.

"ENOUGH!" He roared, an explosion rocketing out of every pore, causing every human within a twenty-foot radius to scream in agony as their eyes burned to the point it would take quite a while for their vision to return. The damage was temporary, but it got the point across to leave them alone.

But he still looked around at what he had done, shocked as he calmed down, realizing his temper had gotten the better of him. Light looked at the people who had been blinded; photographers had dropped their cameras and were trying to find them. Misa grinned,

"The sun blinds people. Awesome!" L shrugged,

"I guess. But this is why a socially anxious Sun is generally not the best thing." Light smiled softly,

"It's okay. How about we go somewhere you'd be more comfortable?" L nodded, smiling back,

"I'd like that."

OoOoO

That night, the trio said their goodbyes and all flew to their respective homes after spending time at a bookstore, talking about books, where it was quiet, and nobody bothered them. 

Light landed in his room, retracting his wings and falling onto the bed. Ryuk landed shortly after and Light looked to the Shinigami with a sad expression,

"Is the Death Note going to corrupt me?"

"I suppose it  _ could _ ," Ryuk replied, "But seeing as you're the Moon, I don't think it's very likely. Of course, the rules for a God owning the Death Note are different from a human." Light sighed,

"It's not worth the risk." He took the notebook out of his desk and was about to hand it back to Ryuk when he hesitated, "If the rules are different for me... can I still remember and be able to see you? Just not being Kira."

Ryuk took the notebook back, looking down at it, "I suppose if you willed it to be, your wish would come to pass. Kid, are you sure you want to do this?" Light nodded,

"Yes. I'm sure. Just... give the notebook to someone who could continue my goal, or if you can't find such a person, a fall guy who is already corrupt and L can catch easily. Misa and L are right—the opinion of humans doesn't matter." But even as he said it, his eyes were blurry from tears, "At least I hope I can come to feel like that one day. But I don't want to become corrupted and hurt them."

Ryuk nodded, "Alright." He laughed, as Light officially removed his memory of the Death Note, but his wish held true, and he smiled innocently at Ryuk, his friend. 

"Sorry, I forgot what we were talking about. What was it?" Ryuk shrugged,

"I was telling you I had to run an errand." He started walking away, "I'll be back." He flew away, and Light, blissfully unaware to what he had forgotten, pulled out a sketchbook and started doodling L and Misa.

...

Ryuk knew he had to pick someone who was within fourteen kilometers of Light to avoid suspicion. In truth, he did care about Light, which was why he was more than a little nervous about the approaching storm.

For if Light ever touched a Death Note again, his full memory would return, leaving him even more vulnerable than usual to complete corruption.


	8. Chapter 8

Row after row of neatly lined up books with their spines facing outward, color-coded with dots, fiction section arranged in alphabetical order, young adults section, comfortable leather armchairs, tables for quiet study, muffled stillness, surprisingly lovely carpet on the floor, computers...

Light gaped at the library L had established in the new task force building—which had been built even faster than normal with a little assistance from your impatient neighborhood Sun God. 

He had been to many bookstores and libraries, but nothing could top the beauty and sheet number of books in this one room. There were so many he wanted to start reading, growing more excited every second that passed.

"You like it?" L asked, "I remember you mentioned you like to read. The library is yours." Light turned, a sparkle in his eyes, and for the first time, the glow of his eyes was from _joy_ and not despair or anger.

"Mine?" L nodded with a smile, shocked when Light hugged him, and L took his hands, leading him to a bookcase.

"I want to show you something." Light eagerly followed, gaping at a gorgeous bookcase, ornate as if carved by a person with a profound love of literature. The engravings were of leaves, of autumn berries and birds on the wing—so sublime as to invite the fingers and eyes to take it in.

He looked at the books on the carefully carved shelves and realized these were tomes with stories and explanations about the Sun and Moon. He selected an old and heady book. The leather felt soft and delicate as he ran his fingers over the faded blue bindings. He fingered the gold lettering carefully before he opened the cover, paper rustled as he thumbed through the book to find what he was looking for. Words appeared and disappeared as his eyes flitted across the pages, quickly picking out anything of importance from the jumble of sentences that littered the world he had become immersed in.

"L, where did you get these books?" He examined some drawings in the pages, with notes around them written in an unfamiliar language. L looked at the page and saw down next to Light.

"Watari had this on handy before he met me, saying the original was found in a hidden ruin in France. He got his hands on a copy. I actually learned Japanese, Chinese, English, Russian, German, and French for this purpose. From what I gather, the most progress ever made on the Sun and Moon was in France around roughly 1780AD."

"So with the last Sun and Moon?" 

"Possibly. The problem is this is actually a copy of the original book which was aged, so it's possible lots of valuable information was lost in translation from old to modern French."

Light pouted, "So I need to learn French to learn more about my powers."

"Yes. But don't worry, I can teach you. I'd rather we be actual equals."

"Is there anything on the Stars?" Light asked, and L sighed,

"I don't think there were any Stars last time, so there is no research. Here, I'll help you translate. It's actually fascinating."

"What does Plus Est En Vous mean?"

"More in you." He looked up, "Maybe we should get some food since it's likely we'll be here for a while." He looked out the window and saw they had a couple hours left of the daytime. Light grinned,

"Yeah!" 

Misa came in, "Hey, you two, whatcha doing?" 

"We're learning more about our powers!" Light was glowing a bit with excitement, and Misa giggled,

"Mind if I join you?" Both shrugged, and L asked for Watari to bring some treats for them to eat while studying.

But then the weirdest thing started happening—Light's hair started getting longer.

"What the—" Light looked at his growing hair which was now down to his hips, and L laughed,

"Remember when I said there were some weird side effects while your powers figure out what to do with you settling? This is what I mean. When I settled, nobody within a mile radius was capable of being injured, and I also glowed all the time. If I had to guess, you're also going to have some trouble with these black rocks you can control according to the books."

"I kept making meteor showers," Misa giggled, "So long hair is pretty mild in comparison. Can I braid it?" Light looked at the hair, which had finally stopped growing, and was pooling at his feet where he was sitting. 

"At least it's just the stuff atop my head." 

"Oh yeah, hair everywhere else starts ceasing to exist eventually," Misa mentioned, "The less human you get, you don't have to suffer, and it's pretty great."

"Well, whatever." Light stood up, "If we're all immortal and the two of you have given up on being human, I want to try out my new powers." 

"The rocks?" L asked, "You might want to be careful with that."

"Don't worry, I will." He walked over to the window, holding out a hand towards the ground once he checked that there were no people.

After a few moments of trying to will it to be, having never done this before, a giant rock shot out of the ground, and with it came a cat that fell into Light's arms. 

"Oh! Hi, buddy." He held the disoriented calico cat, taking in the giant ears and the fact the eyes were looking in two separate directions. While holding the cat, Light decided to begin nighttime, and he put the cat down on the table as it stared at both him and L at the same time.

L stared pensively at the cat, "What's her name?"

"Um..." Light sat in front of the cat, "What's your name?" He paused when he heard the name, "Spleens? O-Okay then, Spleens."

Misa blinked from where she was braiding Light's hair, "Why is the cat named after an organ?"

"I'm not sure I want to know." Light looked to L, "Can we keep her? Please?" L sighed,

"Light-Kun, you already kept Branwen the Owl." Light gave him puppy eyes, and he relented, "Fine. We might as well keep this cat. Are we going to study, or is hilarity about to ensue?"

"Why not both?"

"Good point." 

Light sat back down, long braid over his shoulder, and already knowing he would need to cut this hair. It was going to be a huge pain, which was why he was currently debating if it was even worth it if the hair would just grow back while he was settling—which was supposed to go on for probably a couple more months if not a year, kind of like a second puberty. So it was both a blessing and a curse that he was the youngest of the trio, and the other two had settled already while he had not.

He returned to pouring through the pages as L assisted in translating what he could, and they filled in blanks that had been lost in translation or simply didn't make sense. The three of them read until they were almost cross-eyed, and the words merged into nonsense.

And that was how Watari found them hours later, asleep with their heads on books, notes everywhere, Branwen was sitting on a bookshelf suspiciously looking at Spleens as though trying to gauge how much of a threat the strange cat was.

Watari smiled, remembering when L had been settling, so he recognized immediately the young Moon God was experiencing a similar thing. It led him to wonder if Light's wings had been fluffy like L's had been for his youth before becoming typical bird wings.

He was glad to see L actually interacting with people, as immortality had led him to be reclusive, not even wanting to communicate with his successors for fear of getting attached. So it was good for the young man to finally make some friends.

Watari also knew the case was probably going to be on hold while Light's settling calmed down and wasn't as chaotic as it was going to get. At least Light wasn't capable of smiting people like L was—just impaling them with death rocks, which was kind of hilarious since Light was God of Fertility and also Death. Besides, the case would be over very quickly since Light could ask animals to do his bidding, and thus, he could probably locate Kira or spy on him rather quickly.

The matters of humans came secondary to a trio of gods who had found each other after years. It was understandable, and Watari used a large blanket to cover the three youths, and Light made tiny noises, moving a little closer to L. 

"Sleep well, Kami," he whispered to the three, leaving and deciding to go get some food for the new cat.


	9. Chapter 9

L had been watching Light play with Branwen and Spleens, giggling as the odd furball played with Light's long, braided hair. The investigation had been going smoothly, and Light had found a lead on Yotsuba last week, and had been asking the crows to follow the employees' home and report any suspicious activity.

L's old friends, Aiber and Wedy, were both the newest members of the task force. Upon hearing that L was the Sun God, both Aiber and Wedy had laughed and replied they had known L was one of the legendary figures but didn't want to try guessing aloud which one for worry of getting it wrong.

Misa and Matsuda were out, with Matsuda as her new manager, mostly because they had really hit it off and enjoyed each other's company. In truth, Light and L were wondering if Misa was planning on giving Matsuda her blessing.

"Light, what is Spleens doing?" Raye asked, staring at the cat who had taken to sitting between the stairs and the elevator. Light looked to the cat too,

"She says she's watching the stairs and the elevator to make sure no intruders come in because her gaze is 270 degrees."

They all turned when the computer beeped, and Watari was heard, "L."

"Yes? What is it?"

"Detective Eraldo Coil has just received a private request to investigate and reveal L."

Soichiro's eyes widened, "Isn't Eraldo Coil supposed to be the second-greatest detective in the world after L himself? Who on Earth would send such a request?"

"The man who set up Coil's service is Masahiko Kida." Watari replied, "The head of Rights and Planning Department of the Yotsuba Group's headquarters in Tokyo."

Light grinned at the idea they were right, but then felt a rage overwhelm him at the idea that these mortals wanted to harm L. Then he found himself disturbed that he had called human beings mere mortals, which was already showing his loss of humanity. "We know that Yotsuba must be linked to Kira. If they are trying to find out L's identity, it's probably because they wanna kill him and need that information to do it."

"I'd like to see them try." L replied with a chuckle, "What can Kira do against me? Regardless, we have nothing to worry about. The detective known as Elardo Coil is me. It's quite simple, really. They are all actually me, three of the greatest detectives in the world, L, Coil, and Deneuve. It's been my experience that people who try to find me usually fall for this." He handed a strawberry to Mogi, "I'll give you this strawberry if you keep it a secret, okay?"

Light beamed, "I'm impressed as always, sunshine." L flushed, glowing a little bit. Naomi rolled her eyes as she came in, opening the crate with her own kitten, Yuki, who had been given to her and Raye by Light when Raye had been watching Light. Yuki clumsily walked over to Spleens, and the two cats began playing.

Aizawa rolled his eyes from where he had been looking for more information on Yotsuba.

"All right." Aiber said, "I just have to get to close to them, right? Leave it to me."

"And you want me to make sure that we're able to breach the security and override the surveillance cameras in the Yotsuba Group's head office, is that all?" Wedy asked, looking up from her nails as though clearly bored, and this task would be a child's play.

L nodded, "Yes. It's safe to assume that Kira and the Yotsuba Group are connected in some way. We are going to investigate Yotsuba to determine who holds Kira's power and if there is more than one person who possesses this ability. We need a clear understanding quickly. We cannot let anyone from Yotsuba figure out that we are investigating them. Please realize that if they do notice it, it means we won't be able to catch Kira."

"Once we narrow down the suspects, I can send birds and other animals to look around." Light offered, "People know about animals being drawn to me, but I doubt they would think I use them as spies."

"That is a good plan," L stood up, "But for our human members of the task force, please be sure not to act impossibly out of panic or haste. And don't take matters into your own hands."

With excellent comedic timing, Watari called in again, "L, I have just received an emergency signal from Matsuda's belt."

"Ah great, where is he?"

"It seems that it is coming from within the head office of the Yotsuba Group."

There was silence for a moment, before L sighed, "Disregard everything I just said. I'll need to rethink our strategy. Matsuda, you idiot!" He pulled out his phone and called Matsuda, changing his voice to emote a little more, "Yo, Matsui! Yeah, it's me, Asahi. It's been a while, buddy."

 _"Asahi! Yeah, it's been a long time."_ Judging by the tone Matsuda was using, he was in a situation where this call had saved him. 

"Yeah, it doesn't sound like you are out right now. Don't tell me you're home already."

_"Y-Yeah."_

L smirked a little, "So, you by yourself?"

_"Yeah. I'm by myself. What's up?"_

L looked to the others, whispering, "He's not with Misa right now. Matsuda must be on his own." He raised his voice on the call, "So do you wanna like go out drinking tonight?"

_"Oh, right now? Oh, sorry. I'll have to pass tonight."_

"Oh, what's the matter? Don't tell me your wallet is _in trouble_ again."

There was a moment's pause, but it was barely a second as Matsuda chuckled, clearing catching onto the message, _"Yeah, that's right. Big troubles with money. You know me way too well."_

"Matsuda is saying he is in big trouble," L announced to the others quietly and then turned back to the call, "Oh, that's too bad. Guess I'll drag you out some other time, all right? See ya, buddy!" He hung up and saw Light pacing with Branwen on his shoulder, his braid over his shoulder as he tried to get ahold of Misa. 

"Misa's cell phone is on voice mail right now. I left her a message and told her to get me back as soon as she can."

Soichiro turned back to L, "What are you planning to do?"

"Well… we have to consider that if Matsuda dies, the suspicions about the Yotsuba Group will be confirmed. That said, I would rather not lose anyone else." He sighed, "Let's just watch the situation for the time being, and find a way to have the high ground here."

OoOoO

Misa yawned after working with Ryuga on the movie, looking up at the stars, and using her power to make them shine a little brighter. Then she noticed a message from Light, deciding to call him back,

"Oh, hey, Light. What is it?"

 _"Misa, you're not with Matsuda at the moment, are you?"_ Misa frowned at the concerned tone from Light. Had something happened to Matsuda? She tensed, the idea that someone had gone after Matsuda because of his connection to her making her nervous.

"No, he left a bit ago." She noticed her work phone ringing, "Oh, hang on. I'm getting a call on my work phone. Oh, hey, it's from Matsu!" She heard Light and L talking on the other end, and she realized that Matsuda really was in danger.

 _"Misa,"_ Matsuda said, _"When you finished filming, come over to the Yotsuba Group's head office. It's still tentative, but there's a chance you may be able to appear in Yotsuba's commercials! We're working at it now."_

Now that was a lie, and clearly just a cover. Misa still showed excitement in case people were listening to the conversation on Matsuda's end, and then she ran over to her director once the call ended.

"Excuse me, may I leave a little early? I just got a call that a friend of mine needs help. We can work for longer tomorrow." 

"Of course, Ms. Amane."

Misa took off to the changing room, knowing she would have to look pretty for meeting with a bunch of old pervs. She shuddered at the thought. It would be so much easier to smite them, but alas, that wouldn't do. And she had no plans of wearing anything too revealing, just formfitting jeans, some silver pumps, and a tight pink top. She then put her hair in a bun, just the slightest bit messy, as a hint of imperfection always made things more attractive.

She called Light as she spread her wings and took flight in the direction of Yotsuba, "Light, I have a plan to get Matsuda out of whatever's going on. I might need you and L's help. I'm flying there now." 

"Actually, Misa, L has a plan too." Light said, "It looks like we're all going to be working together." 

She listened to L's plan and grinned when she realized it was similar to her own, except she wanted to be a little more magical and less risky during the Matsuda rescue. 

Before walking into the Yotsuba meeting room, Misa fought back a cringe, knowing she would have to play the role of a pretty airhead because that was what these men would prefer. Oh well. 

She entered the room with a bright smile, "I'm Misa-Misa! My only rule is, I don't do nudes. But swimsuits and lingeries are totally okay. It's lovely to meet you." The men talked amongst themselves, complimenting her looks, and Misa decided to initiate the next phase of the plan, nudging Matsuda playfully, "By the way, Matsu, since Yotsuba is a big catch, I've just got the okay from our office to have a special reception."

"Huh? Reception?"

OoOoO

Light, after cutting his hair again for mobility, sat next to L, watching the women they had asked to assist, as well as Naomi. Wedy had said she wouldn't be caught dead wearing the outfits most of the women were dressing for this, but Naomi was okay with this for the sake of practicing more undercover roles. Raye was clearly uncomfortable with his fiancé flirting with these men, but it was for the investigation.

"Hm, well, well." L smiled, "Misa's pretty good at this sort of thing." They watched Matsuda rush off to the bathroom and then pull out his phone, calling L.

_"L, are you watching this? Look, I'm really sorry that I—"_

"That's not important right now," L assured, and Matsuda was already talking again,

_"Okay, listen. The eight men who came here were having a meeting to determine who they get Kira to kill for them. I heard them say it clearly. There's no doubt they're behind this."_

"Yes, that is probably true. But if you did overhear the meeting and they caught you, then Kira will almost certainly be trying to kill you now."

_"Ah, I know. Do you think there's anything I can do to save myself?"_

"Well, luckily, you still are alive, so we may be able to save you. But for that to happen, you will have to die before you can be killed."

_"What!?"_

"Listen, Light is headed down there now," he nodded to Light, who cloaked himself in illusions and went down to the party. "And he is going to trade places with you using illusions. You will be invisible, so you can leave, and Light will fake your death."

 _"Alright. L, thank you."_ L shrugged and saw Light and Matsuda switch places. Soon Matsuda was rushing up into headquarters with them as Light made a show of being drunk and falling off the building, only to fly out of harms' way and toss a sandbag down that looked like a person using his powers, and then creating a fake ambulance. 

"Woah," Aiber gaped, "He's gotten a lot stronger with his powers." 

"Yes, he has." L had a dreamy smile on his face, and he turned when Light came in, giving a thumbs-up,

"The plan worked like a charm, and I have birds following each of those men to see which one acts the most suspicious." Misa came up and hugged both Light and L, pulling them into a group hug, 

"That's a victory for the gods!" Then she looked down at her outfit, "I'm gonna go change out of this, and then we should celebrate!"

Light's blossoming grin was wide as he picked up Spleens, who did not seem to have any idea what was happening, "We should do that!"

OoOoO

The next week, L got a call from a very frustrated Wedy, but not for the reason they had been worried about,

_"L, are you listening? Oh, I'm so disappointed. I thought this would be a challenge. The security level here is a joke! They've left it all to a single contractor. There weren't even any wiretap detectors."_

"It looks like things have been moving pretty smoothly since I snuck in, huh?" Matsuda cheered, and Light was bouncing a little in his seat,

"We've almost got them."

L observed the meeting, and Light frowned, noticing Ryuk was in the room, and the God of Death was standing off to the side, but his place in the room gave Light a feel for who Kira may be. 

"So, one of these people is Kira."

The man called Ooi organized some papers absently, "Well then, now that everyone's here, let's commence a regular meeting."

Soichiro gaped, "But if they supposed to be eight, why are there only seven?"

L and Light exchanged looks with each other, with a matching expression that said, "That can't be good."


	10. Chapter 10

Given how quickly they got the evidence needed to confirm that the Yotsuba group was connected to and working alongside Kira upon getting a single camera and wiretap to listen in on a meeting, it was shocking to all three Gods that it had taken longer than a few hours to find the bunch. 

The day after hearing about the meeting, Misa started going on dates with the men and revealing her identity as the Stars, which had led to many reveals of worship and giving her all the information she could have wanted within a matter of minutes. More importantly, it had led to Higuchi confessing to being Kira, seemingly so he could have access to her powers, and she recorded everything.

L bit his thumb as he looked over the recording, "He's far too simple." Light looked up from where he was washing Spleens in the bathtub,

"What do you mean?"

"I just find it hard to believe that this is the person I've been searching for in these months."

Misa shrugged, leaning against the wall, "Well, it was difficult to find that one clue and everything fell apart for Higuchi once that happened, and his lust for both my body and power kicked in. Isn't that how most cases go?"

"Yes, I suppose you're right." He sighed, "Something just doesn't sit right with me." Branwen cooed, and Light took Spleens out of the bath,

"Good point, Bran. I'll ask Ryuk."

"Ryuk?" L perked up, "That's your Shinigami friend, right? He might know."

"I doubt he would tell us since he wants things to be interesting, but it makes sense that he would know if this was the original Kira. If there was one, he would find it interesting to tell." 

"Alright," L crossed his arms, "So how exactly are we going to get in contact with Ryuk?"

"Get a crate of apples, and that should have him with us in the hour." Light replied, holding Spleens firmly with the towel as he tried to dry her off. Misa giggled at his antics, tying her hair up as she walked out the door,

"I'll talk to Watari about getting the apples. I assume we're going to make a bit of a spectacle of capturing Higuchi?" L shrugged,

"I suppose. The main question is if we're going to abuse our status as Gods or go about this like mortal detectives and have him walk into a trap."

"Why not both?" Light replied, crossing his arms with a small smirk, "I'm sure it would be more interesting."

"Yes, you're right." Branwen perched herself on Light's shoulder while Spleens ran off to follow Misa, and they left the bathroom, and Light noticed one of the books was open, and he looked down at the incantations within with a small smile,

"Do you think we'll have to use any of these?" L shrugged,

"Maybe yours with the rocks, but you don't really need to—and how could healing really help us?" Light giggled,

"Maybe any mortals who get caught in the crossfire." 

"If we play our cards right, then we won't need to. However, I am curious if my healing could reverse the damage of someone killed by Kira. It could be interesting."

"No," Light insisted, "We might be..." he slumped, "Different from them. But that doesn't mean we can just sacrifice them out of curiosity regarding our powers."

"You're right. That's what Death Row Inmates are for." L replied, grinning, and Light punched his arm in exasperation, yet he was still laughing.

"Sunshine, seriously?!"

"What? I'm not wrong." He shrugged, "But I have no plans to use my powers and risk people knowing and worshiping me. If we're going to reveal ourselves as Gods, might as well be extra about it and dress up like people would expect us too."

"Maybe people will finally acknowledge I'm the damn Moon and not the Sun." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, "And people are still not going to recognize you because you go blonde."

"This is true, and I appreciate it." He looked over the book again, deciding to leave it on the desk, "We should go check up on Misa."

"Right," Light pet Branwen's head and followed L to the roof, where Misa was waiting with a large crate of apples. He gaped, "How did you get those so quickly?" Misa winked,

"Watari was taking too long, so I went to the store and used my status, and people gave me what I needed."

"Wow." Was all Light could comment, "Just... wow." He examined the apples, Ryuk appeared moments later,

"The crate of apples has summoned me!"

"Hey, Ryuk!" Light waved, knowing he was the only one who could see the Shinigami, "Hey, Ryuk, was there another Kira before Higuchi?"

Ryuk's eyes widened, rubbing the back of his neck and laughing awkwardly, "Why would you think that? You found it out! Higuchi is Kira." He seemed almost nervous about something. Light put both his hands on his hips, 

"Come on, Ryuk, what's bothering you?"

"You know, the King doesn't like it when Shinigami get involved with the other Gods, so I don't know if I'm saying too much."

Light hummed a bit, "That's fair, but you know you can tell me anything. Is there another Kira?"

"No," Ryuk replied quickly, and Light nodded a bit,

"Alright." He gestured to the apples, "They're all yours. And after we capture Higuchi, maybe we can play some video games like before." 

Misa whispered to L, "Am I alone in being left with nothing but speculation for the other end of the conversation?"

"No," L whispered back, "You're not alone." 

Ryuk laughed, "I'd like that, kid. So when ya gonna capture Higuchi?"

"Um..." Light looked to L and Misa, "Tonight? Tomorrow?"

"Probably tomorrow so we can get everything set up," L replied, and Light nodded,

"Tomorrow. Just sit back, relax, and watch things unfold. It shouldn't matter if you tell Higuchi or not. It would probably be more boring if you did." Ryuk's laugh became more relaxed,

"Wouldn't dream of it. Boring bastard would probably just shoot himself, and then where would I be? Like bad television, I gotta milk this for all it's worth. Don't make it boring, Light-o," he teased, "I'm counting on you to make it fun." Upon inhaling the apples as though they were nothing at all, he took off into the sky, "See ya tomorrow!"

Light waved as the Shinigami went, "See you tomorrow," he turned back to L and Misa, "That went well! He won't tell Higuchi anything, and there was not another Kira." He paused, "I think."

"You think?" L asked, and Light shrugged,

"He was acting a little weird, but he got like that last time I mentioned him being my friend, so I guess..." he sighed, "I don't know, but I'm not going to worry about it unless the killings continue. So, shall we think of a plan to capture Higuchi?"

Misa seemed eager, but L was still slightly not convinced, "If you insist. And you're right. There's no need to bother ourselves with this trivial matter anyway, so there's no reason to be concerned. But what does concern me is cake," he looked to the others, "We need sustenance to make a proper plan. Chocolate or vanilla." 

She grinned, "Why not both?" And L beamed,

"I like your style."

OoOoO

"I know we planned to be all extra with this," L said, forcing on a sun-themed Kimono, "But how the hell do you put these things on?"

Light, having worn a Kimono many times in his life, was already dressed up and ready to go, so he helped L with putting his on, "It's amusing, comparing the expectations of Gods versus the reality."

"Defying expectations is fun," L retorted, and Light nodded,

"I agree. And..." Light finished up, "Done. You looked great." Spleens purred, and Light giggled, "Spleens agrees." L looked down at himself and then looked in the mirror.

"You look great too." He grinned, putting a silver crown on Light's head, where it rested as though it had always meant to be there.

The duo walked downstairs—L tripping over the Kimono at one point and Light needing to catch him—and Soichiro gaped, seeing his son looking like the God he actually was in favor of a regular teenager.

"Is everything ready?" L asked, and Raye nodded,

"It is, my lord—" Naomi nudged him a bit, "I mean, L." L huffed,

"You see, Light-Kun, why I tend to avoid my God side being known. Is Matsuda ready?" Soichiro nodded,

"We're ready whenever you give us the word." Light and L sat down, and Misa was eating an apple. L tried to get into his usual squat but found he couldn't, so he ended up leaning forward against the desk,

"Well, then. Let's begin."

It wasn't even an hour before everything was going far better than they had planned, and Misa was staying here to alert them to any changes while Light and L went into full God-mode and leaped off the roof to follow Higuchi.

Light grinned, seeing L's glowing hair and fiery avian wings and laughing as he went. He knew that his Sun didn't typically fly around to avoid having attention on him, but maybe L would be ready for more of that now.

"Do you see him?" Misa asked both of them telepathically, "He's in the red sports car that he probably bought to look young and hip but actually made him look like a douche." Light actually snorted a little at the description, calling upon Branwen to lead other birds to find this particular car.

However, this proved unnecessary since Higuchi was less than subtle by breaking every traffic law out there. L dove down closer and they could already hear the cheering of the people as Light used the black rocks to force Higuchi up an empty stretch of road, where he could then summon a sword of them in his hand, which he threw into a tire. In contrast, L used the sunlight he could envelop his body in to momentarily blind Higuchi, leaving him crashed on the side of the road surrounded by cops.

"Kira," L walked over to the car where Higuchi had a gun pointed at his head,

"Don't come any closer, or I will!" 

"Go ahead." L replied in his usual monotone voice, but there was something different about it that sent shivers up Light's spine, "The lives of worthless scum such as you mean nothing to us. Taking yourself hostage was a foolish venture." 

Light opened the car door, taking out Higuchi's bag and feeling a familiar power humming inside it. It reminded Light of Ryuk. And speaking of Ryuk, the Shinigami was sitting in the back of the car, looking horrified and almost afraid as Light took out the black notebook inside.

It was so fast he wasn't sure if he screamed or not, but memories raced back at him more quickly than he could keep track, and before he knew it, he remembered everything about Kira and having asked Ryuk to give the Death Note to someone else.

He stared down at the notebook, turquoise eyes wide before a rage overcame him as he softly asked Higuchi, his blue hair glowing even brighter as he asked, "Why did you use such a weapon like this? For money? Fame?" He softened, "Or are you sympathetic towards me?" That was a goddamn lie of a question, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Higuchi was silent, and the police were on standby, waiting for the Gods to be done talking. L's eyes turned to gold again, "Speak," he ordered in what Light decided to call his 'God voice.' And it made sense that L had one. He was older, after all.

"You're correct, my lord," Higuchi said meekly to Light, "I was selfish, but I also supported you!" He pleaded, and Light narrowed his eyes, sensing that blatant lie and needing to consciously keep the murder of crows on standby.

Regardless, he knew that to kill this man would just prove to the world the dangers of the Moon, but to show Higuchi mercy would be even worse. So he came up with a compromise,

"Renounce ownership of the Death Note to me, and I will let Interpol decide what to do with you. I am sure they would be much more merciful than Stars or Sun."

L took Light's free hand, smiling to him encouragingly to tell him he was doing a good job. What would L think if he found out the truth about Light being the original Kira?

Higuchi got out of the car and bowed to him. Light fought the urge to recoil in disgust but remained a semi-merciful God, perhaps in his own way to show L that he wasn't a monster like they had started to believe of Kira as of late—or rather Higuchi's version of Kira. 

"Yes, my lord. Thank you, my lord. I renounce ownership, and may you spare me." Light felt ownership transfer to him, and he looked to his father, 

"Take him away, officers."

"What?!" The memoryless Higuchi shouted, "This is an outrage, what are you doing?!" L glared,

"Be silent. That is your right, and anything you say can and will be used against you."

Higuchi shut up, whether of his own will or not, Light didn't know, nor did he care as he looked down at the Death Note in his hands, shock and guilt hitting him harder than he would have expected before giving up his memories.

OoOoO

After the defeat of Higuchi, everyone—even if they did silently support Kira in the beginning—joined in to celebrate the end of Kira, a likely excuse to get drunk for free. Of course, the celebrations were courtesy of L—after being promptly forced by Interpol, much to his dismay, as he generally hates parties—but Light was frankly excited! Maybe now, after Kira, everyone will realize that the night should be loved too! Even if… this was kind of him fault to begin with… but this is fine! Now everything was over, and he would take that little secret with him to the grave or wait a couple of centuries to tell L. 

_This is fine. This is completely fine._

Light looked out from the headquarters' window at all of the people celebrating and cheering, watching the dancers or lighting fires to honor the Gods. The cherry blossoms were a bright pink too, and Light watched the celebrations, noticing many of them were honoring the Sun. But that was fine, right? After all, there were still two hours left of the day, so it made sense to honor L now... right?

He didn't know how long it was that he sat alone. It was a long time, he supposed, because he had raised the Moon, and he smiled a bit, seeing the people were still out. He felt a hand gently place itself on his shoulder, startling him and making him turn quickly, only to relax, seeing L looking at him concerned.

Light quickly regained his composure, flashing a kind smile, before teasing him, "Not joining the celebrations I see? You'd think that the Sun would be all about celebrating!" He teased, bumping into L.

L laughed softly before turning to face the window and survey the celebrations alongside his Moon. "I'd much rather be with you than with a bunch of strangers wanting to get drunk for free, now that I've finally escaped Interpol's questions." He replied, causing Light's cheeks to flush but also make him laugh. He smiled, grateful for Light's reaction before the joy slipped away, noticing how slightly forced Light's behavior was. He slowly went to caress his cheek, moving some hair strands from his face "Moonbeam, may I ask what's wrong? Ever since we've captured Higuchi, you seemed… tense. I can tell through our connection, Light, you don't need to hide things from me." 

Light tensed, turning his head away, frown growing on his face. "I'm just…" he said, pausing to regain himself. "I'm just scared. What if, after everything that happened, people will despise the moon even more? What if things will just go back to the way they were? What if everything will be different? I don't even know which situation I'm more scared of!" He quickly pocketed his hands, feeling his claws growing on his hands and having noticed the darker pigmentation earlier, yet relaxing when L's hand started making soothing circles on his shoulder, a form of grounding and comfort.

L brow furrowed at Light's answer. He could feel his emotions, both screaming out for help and trying to avoid everyone at the same time. There was fear, anger, a bit of jealousy? Despair and anxiety all combined into a storm of feelings. He had to make this right. "Well, things ought to change, aren't they? I mean, look at everyone below! It's late at night, and they're still celebrating their hearts out, and I heard from Misa that they are preparing something special to thank the Gods!" He said, trying to smile at Light, to encourage him to smile too.

Light smiled gently, leaning against L's shoulder, gazing down at everyone. He sighed, looking at all of the people celebrating, Misa amongst them, thanking and helping many people, accepting offerings, and so on. Light wanted to go down there, but sadly, he knew people were stupid enough to mistake him for the Sun again as mortals believed what they wanted to without any evidence.

Fireworks started going off, and Light crawled even closer to the window, watching the celebrations and hoping that maybe things really would be different.

Humans cheered down below, and Light gaped, seeing they all had lanterns, which were being released into the sky. It was pretty, very much so, but there was uncomfortable knotting in Light's stomach, as the night was being overwhelmed by the glow of the lanterns. That was why people had turned the lights off and appreciated the Moon and the Stars for a bit...

To show worship for the Sun.

And before he knew it, people were going back to hide in their homes again, and he watched, eyes wide, as everything ended.

Nothing had changed. Kira was gone, and now everyone would hide again. Maybe it was even worse this time. He choked on a sob, and L held him close, stroking his hair,

"Hey, I'm here. I'm here." He soothed him, and Light cried, hugging himself as the feeling of being shunned and alone hit him even harder, and he whimpered, feeling the pangs of pain in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he rasped, "But I need some time alone." He got up, and L watched him go, speechless, and having no idea what he could say or do to make Light feel better. Rage filled him, and he went to go find Misa because surely she was as livid as he was. 

He sensed something—something dark—down his bond with Light. It was a strange thing in the young God, but L knew that it was not good, but to ignore Light's request to be alone for a time may end in disaster. So he sent what he hoped was a soothing feeling down their bond, and hoped for everything to be somewhat okay in the morning.

For Light, he wandered down a mostly abandoned hall of the task force headquarters, as all it led to was a large yet empty room. He wanted to say he couldn't believe how fast things had gone south, but unfortunately, he could.

He looked out and the soft glow of the Moon outside. It would be a perfect night to walk a moonlit field in the quiet rest if he desired to, but he didn't want to step out into the mortal world.

Why? Why did people have to hide and just wait for L's sunny day?

Ryuk had followed him, "Kid, I know you're upset, but—"

"You didn't tell me." Light whispered, "I know why you didn't, but... a little heads up would have been nice."

Ryuk sighed, "I know. But why bother moping about the approval of humans when you clearly aren't one? The next generation may be more approving." Light spun around,

"Am I wrong, Ryuk?!" He screamed, unaware of his eyes changing to a glowing turquoise, "Why shouldn't they adore me for _me_! Do they just not get it, or would they hate me if they found out that _I'm_ really the Moon?"

 _"In umbra Luna est."_ He gasped as he heard a demented yet alluring voice in his head, beginning to repeat this phrase in a mantra as he wandered into the empty room, which actually had a balcony. He smiled a bit hollowly as he looked up at the stars, before deflating as his anger returned, as that damn phrase repeated over and over again, the proof that the world saw him as number two,

 _"In umbra Luna est."_

_"In umbra Luna est."_

_"In umbra Luna est."_

_"In umbra Luna est."_

_"In umbra Luna est!"_

"Enough!" He roared into the echoing room, before clenching his fists, making a choice, "If people can't love both of us... why can't I have a turn?" Ryuk's eyes widened,

"Light-o, snap out of it! Look at yourself!" He grabbed Light's shoulders, trying to shake him out of his quickly rising new thoughts, his hair becoming longer, and the black along his arms spreading and warping his outfit into something new.

He threw his hands down, forcing Ryuk back, and Light's entire body shook. It was L's fault. He always stole the show, even though Light was _not_ inferior! He giggled morbidly and forced his body trembling with rage to the window. 

The world wanted a monster out of him? Well, they'd get one. It didn't matter if L decided to start pleading or threatening, because he had read every book in L's library and knew how to use his powers. He could stand his ground just fine. 

He raised both of his hands to the sky, clenching them and using his power to force an eclipse around the entire world, locking the planet in the night until he said so—meaning never. The Moon changed from crescent to full, and also took a dark red. A Blood Moon, matching his now glowing red eyes.

He looked to Ryuk, "Ryuk, my friend, you have no place in this war. Go home," and as he ordered it, Ryuk vanished through a portal as Light held the Death Note in his hands, casting it aside.

Was this enough? No. People hid in their homes with artificial lighting, so it was time to change that.

...

L had been talking to Misa about something to cheer up Light when suddenly that odd feeling from earlier strengthened, and he felt something intensely wrong in the balance of night and day, so he looked up at the sky before pain felt as though it split his head, and his knees buckled under him,

"Light..." 

Misa looked around as she could tell Light was using his powers over time, reversing the world to before electricity.

"Light!" She helped L up, unsure if Light was doing something or L was in shock, but she slapped him anyway, "Snap out of it! We have to find him before it's too—" she screamed as an earthquake started, and the wind began to pick up.

L nodded, both of them transforming to their Godly selves and flying back to headquarters, where they found that the building was mostly the same as always other than a different color scheme. 

Matsuda ran up to them, "L, Misa, what's going on?!"

"I think that the celebrations pissed Light off," Misa replied, and L was running down the hall,

"Light, where are you?!" This couldn't be happening. Not now, not ever! He knew what he would have to do if Light was too far gone, and he would give anything to not have to do that. There had to be a way to snap Light out of it without—

He found himself in what used to be an empty room. However, now it was a throne room, and in the center of it all was a throne made of the black rocks, and upon it was not the same young man who L had grown to love with all his heart, but even so, Branwen dutifully sitting upon her master's shoulder was enough to tell him what this was.

"Hello, Sunshine." Nightmare Moon taunted, a cruel grin on his face, "I've been waiting for you."


	11. Chapter 11

L stared at Nightmare Moon, eyes wide as he saw what had become of his precious Moon, and that serpentine grin had no place on the face of the one he loved.

"Light," he tried, seeing if maybe he could talk him down, "I know you're upset—you have every right to be, but this isn't how to prove a point." He pleaded with his eyes, but Nightmare Moon simply laughed,

"Don't patronize me," he got up, and L realized that his pupils were mere slits, "You just want me to go back to being this child for you to care for but always be stronger than. Well, I quite like this new me, and all the answers it brings. It's my turn to shine, and if you're not going to let me," he giggled, "I know how the story goes, and so do you, so let's write a different ending, shall we?"

L felt tears welling up as he remembered how the story had went since the beginning of time, of the Sun winning over the Moon and a thousand years worth of time apart, "I—I don't want to fight you, Light."

He barely threw up a shield fast enough as Nightmare Moon fired a blast of raw magic at him, "Well, too bad, because I want to fight you and have the final setting of the Sun."

Misa ran in, "Light?!" She managed to dodge, and Nightmare Moon's wings tore out of his back, and L looked over to Misa, and the look they exchanged made it clear both of them knew what had to be done, but maybe if Light got his anger out of his system with a fight, he could go back to normal. Anything was better than the last resort. 

"Alright, Light," he whispered, "But let's take this outside." He transformed and flew at Nightmare Moon, forcing them both off the balcony and into the air, magic at the ready. But L knew he had to rely on physical strength because that was what he specialized with while the Moon was stronger in magic and seemed to have gotten one hell of a boost from being corrupted.

Misa joined him, "We'll save him," she assured. L nodded, trying to figure out how he could get close to Nightmare Moon, summoning his bow and arrows into his hands, firing it, but Nightmare Moon dodged, summoning more of the black rocks from the ground and firing them like homing missiles at the two others.

L created a shield and went in, dodging a couple blows. The two ended up countering each other with equal magic momentarily. L managed to use his arrows like throwing knives, and one hit Nightmare Moon across the bicep, which caused the corrupted God to fly above and kick L closer to the ground and momentarily stun him into falling and firing another blast at him which L had to fly away from.

Misa manipulated the winds to throw Nightmare Moon a little bit, but he quickly regained his balance as the two engaged in combat. She glared,

"Light, I love you like a brother, but you really need to snap out of it!" Nightmare Moon bared his teeth and forced her back, throwing his hands down and summoning countless flying animals to his aid. However, L handled that by temporarily blinding them all with his glowing, calling upon fire while Light manipulated water levels and used it to fight.

"Misa!" He called, "Use the winds to divert the water away from civilians. Get them all to safety for the time being!"

"Will you be okay?!"

L hesitated, knowing him having taught Light to use his powers while having not used his own all too often might bite him in the ass unless he planned to do _it._ "I hope so."

"Die!" Nightmare Moon shrieked, his eyes glowing brightly and bringing forth a tsunami, but L threw up a shield to protect the people, unfortunately leaving himself vulnerable to an attack, getting a blow directly to the chest, launching him miles and through the bulletproof glass of the task force headquarters, where he was now in his bedroom.

That kind of blow would have pulverized a human, but for L, it merely left him a little dizzy and in pain as he forced himself to stand, seeing the spellbook, and he read out one of his incantations, hoping to not need to do anything permanent. 

"Power of the Sun

Gift me with your light

Shine into the dark

Restore our fading sight

Rise into the dawn

Blazing star so bright

Burn away the strife

Let my hope ignite

Let hope ignite!"

He felt himself get a boost and managed to roundhouse kick Nightmare Moon as the other came to find him, and he noticed that with the magic boost, he had managed to momentarily let the Sun peek out from the eclipse. 

What if he broke the eclipse, could that work? It would take a lot of magic, but it seemed that now he was finally battling in hand-to-hand combat, so he could work just fine here, focusing his energy on his power as the ground tremored beneath him, almost as though something was fighting him. However, judging by Nightmare Moon's microexpression, he wasn't the one doing it.

But this momentary distraction gave Nightmare Moon enough time to get on top and snatch the book, "Well look at all of this." He purred maliciously, "So many ways to get rid of you forever." L managed to escape and kick the book out of Nightmare Moon's grip, launching at him, tapping into his magic.

It all froze when he felt as though he had been punched except with a weird pressure in his stomach, which began to burn quickly. Nightmare Moon smirked at him, whispering words that brought L total dread,

"Wither and decay

End this destiny

Break these earthly chains

And set the spirit free.

The spirit free."

L felt the power of death pass through the sword embedded in his stomach, weakening his power as Nightmare Moon grabbed him by the throat, plunging in the weapon deeper to the point of poking out through his back a little bit and keeping them high in the sky with what used to be a city below. As L's golden blood leaked out, it healed the ground it landed upon.

"Not so strong now, are you, Sunshine?" Nightmare Moon laughed, and L sneered, forcing his legs up and kicking Nightmare Moon off him, releasing his wings and sending fireballs at him, which didn't do much as he lost even more blood, the world beginning to spin in his vision as his lifeblood slipped away. His wound wasn't healing due to the interference of the death incantation.

"Misa," he rasped, gently gliding to the ground and forcing himself to limp into the somewhat flooded parking garage entrance to headquarters, trying to get to Naomi or Watari, who might be able to help.

His knees gave out under him as his adrenaline began to fade the moment he got into the elevator. The pain grew exponentially as he moaned miserably, forcing himself to crawl into the main room in headquarters, his wings wrapped protectively around him as he knew Nightmare Moon was here, at the top of the stairs and jumped down. He had probably predicted this was where L would go. 

"Found you," he taunted, drawing out the vowels as he bent down, but L noticed his expression change, seeing all the blood L had lost and how it had weakened him. As though suddenly, all of it had become so very dreadfully real where he hadn't thought it would be so. "So, it looks like I win then."

L looked up, "Yeah," he wheezed, "It looks like you do. So what are you going to do then? Kill me?" He looked up, "You think you want to, but is that really it?" He used the bow strapped to his back to help him stand, managing to use his waning magic to keep him from fully acknowledging the hole through his torso, "You want to be loved. The Light I know wouldn't do this."

"You're wrong!" Nightmare Moon tried to kick him down again, but it didn't hold as much venom, "You don't know me, L, and you don't know what I'm capable of." 

The pieces clicked into place, and L forced a small smile, " _You_ were the original Kira, right? But you gave it up when you met me." 

It made sense now, especially given how tense Light was after Higuchi's defeat when he had been excited to capture him before. And why he could see Ryuk—it wasn't because he was the Moon God, but because he had been the previous owner.

He had nothing against Light for this, but he could certainly use this to talk Light down. 

"Light," he stressed, wondering if his original name would get through to the Light inside Nightmare Moon, who looked as though he had been slapped, and tried to attack him with the sword again, but L blocked with his bow, leaning against the wall to stand upright. "Why did you give up the Death Note? It was because you didn't want to fight me, right? But you still want to be loved."

"It's your fault!" Nightmare Moon screamed, but L noticed his eyes go from blood red to the regular turquoise, which was either intense emotion or the start of corruption, but not so far gone that he couldn't be saved. "It's your fault and the humans' faults that I'm alone!"

"I know," he wept a bit as he blocked another blow but was struck across the arm in the process, "I know how we're treated is not fair, but _I_ love you, Light! I don't want you to be alone. I want to be able to make you happy."

The blows from the sword slowly came to a stop, "What did you say...?" Nightmare Moon whispered, and L smiled tiredly, cupping his cheek,

"I love you, Light. I really do with all my heart, and I'm sorry I didn't do anything to ease your pain, but I want to make it better. _Please,_ Light, come back to me."

He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry, feeling his own life ebbing away, but he watched the corruption slowly fade from Light. He continued to whisper assurances to him, "I know you're Kira, Light, and I don't care. I'm right here."

Nightmare Moon sobbed, and before L knew it, normal Light was standing there. L sighed in relief, "Welcome back, Moonbeam." But it was then that his adrenaline gave out entirely, and his magic stopped working, so he crumpled into a heap on the ground.

"L!" He felt himself getting caught by Light, and his body felt heavier by the second.

...

He remembered everything about what had happened. L knew? L knew about him being Kira and... accepted it? He didn't hate him?

But that was nowhere near important, as the one he loved lay fatally injured in his arms, and he wasn't healing.

"Come on, L," he pleaded, seeing Branwen flying over, and he ordered the bird to get some bandages, even if he wasn't sure that would help with the deep wounds as he applied pressure to them, "Heal yourself, please, you need to heal, or I don't know..." he felt a sob escape him, "What have I done?"

"It's okay, Light," L whispered, leaning close, "I'm not mad. I just needed to know you're okay before..."

"Before nothing, damnit! Heal yourself!"

"I can't." Those words shook Light to the core. No way. Had the decay incantation really left him unable to heal himself? This couldn't be happening.

"Well—Well, what can we do?! If you can't heal, how are you supposed to..."

"Can you just hold me?" L asked softly, his voice clearly getting weaker. "That'd be nice."

L couldn't be actually dying, right? They were supposed to go together, right?

But... if they died together, why would there be such an age gap between them? Was it possible that one would die first? And L was older so did that mean—

No, no, this couldn't be right. They were supposed to have thousands of years, and there was no way Light should have been able to win. L had chosen not to do anything permanent, out of love, which proved to be his downfall.

What else could he do to fix this? All he could do, he realized, other than try to use the bandage wrap around L's wounds, was to just hold him and stay true to L's request.

He found himself singing softly through the tears,

_"You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine._

_You make me happy when skies are gray._

_You'll never know d-dear, how much I love you._

_Please don't take... my Sunshine away,"_

He felt the exact moment L went still and lifeless in his arms. He was still breathing, but it was so weak...

Without thinking, he shook him, "Hey, come on, L. You gotta wake up. L, please! You—You said you'd be here for me. I-I need you! Please, don't leave me!" 

But L remained immobile, his head lolling limply like a doll.

"L—L, no!" He wailed, pulling L's body close, "Don't go, please don't go. I'm sorry—I'll do anything, just please no..."

It didn't matter to him that in his pain, he had reversed the eclipse. The Sun may never shine again as far as Light was concerned because fear gripped his heart at the realization he may never see _his_ beloved Sunshine again. The only hope he had left was the faintest breath from L and maybe it wouldn't come to a stop.

But that hope seemed like a distant memory as he held L's body and sobbed, alone in a headquarters that was once theirs together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> END
> 
> Well, guys, I hope you have enjoyed the Moon Rises, as this is the end, and I will edit the number of chapters later.
> 
> ...
> 
> Nah, I'm just messing with you, but I couldn't resist. I can already hear Teacup telling me to go sit in the corner.


	12. Chapter 12

Light held L's hand tightly, completely oblivious to the world around him. The only thing that mattered was his Sunshine, who had not awoken in four days.

According to Watari, who apparently had been blessed by the previous Sun God, L had been so severely injured, added onto Light's powers weakening L's magic, that his body had shut down, and he wound up in a stasis. The only sign that he was alive was the fact he hadn't faded into nothing as Gods did when they passed on, but L was so close to death that there was not even a rise and fall of his chest which he didn't technically need but preferred, as his magic slowly stitched him back together and was the only thing keeping him alive.

But nobody knew when he was going to wake up, but Watari said it could possibly be a thousand years, which was the moment Light's heart broke, at the idea of waiting millennia to see L again.

He couldn't bring himself to care what was happening to mortals, he hadn't even bothered to change the cycle of day and night, all his power focused on keeping this building and L within safe from all harm.

Occasionally people would try to come in to talk to him, but he couldn't hear them. He couldn't bring himself to even eat, and in the rare moments he slept, he slept on the floor next to the bed, unworthy of sharing a bed with L after what he had done.

"Please come back to me," Light whispered, stroking L's cheek tenderly. Even under the sheets, he could still sense his own corrupted power that had done so much damage and left L unable to heal himself.

He didn't bother to turn when the door was flung open.

...

"Light," Misa came in at a sprint, "You have to fix this! I've been trying to keep the atmosphere under control, but the storm is getting worse!" 

In Light's despair, he had accidentally started the eclipse again, forcing the planet to stop spinning as the moon was forced to stay still, which was causing thousands of miles an hour winds that Misa was barely managing to keep under control. Only Light and L could spin the Earth while focusing on their particular element, "raising" the sun or moon.

Light didn't respond to her presence at all until she walked over, so they were locking eyes and then she looked at him. He finally looked up, dark bags under his eyes, and he looked tired in every sense of the word like someone had sucked all the joy and life out of him, leaving nothing but an empty husk.

"Misa, I can't." He pleaded, "I'm not L. He could raise the moon for me when I was too young and couldn't, but _I_ don't know how."

Both of them looked to the Sun God, who laid still in bed, locked in endless sleep. Light blamed himself, Misa knew this and understood where he was coming from, and that was why she had kept the world from going into total chaos as he grieved. But she could no longer manage.

"You have no choice! Surely L gave you an idea of how to do it."

Light bowed his head, thin shoulders trembling, running a hand through L's raven locks, trying to get a response. "He did. But—But I don't think I'm strong enough to do it. I don't want to be. If I could do this to him—" he choked on a sob, and Misa sat down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder,

"That wasn't you. You know it wasn't."

"But it was still my power and my anger." Misa huffed, glaring at the younger God. 

"So, you're going to let the mortals die because you're feeling guilty about L?" She cringed, realizing that with how unstable Light had been as of late, he might resent the mortals for what happened and absolutely let them all go extinct from the winds because of it.

"Why do I care if humans die?" He replied absently, staring blankly at the wall as though he was zoning out even as they talked.

"Because your parents and sister and most of your friends are human?!" Misa offered, but Light didn't seem to care, his voice so devoid of emotion it was unnerving,

"They're going to die anyway, as is the way of a mortal." Sick and tired of Light's depressed mumblings, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him,

"Light, snap out of it! You're too young to be jaded already! If your power is strong enough to beat _L_ to the point that he may only wake up in a thousand years, and only natural time can heal him, you can raise the damn sun!" When that didn't get through to Light at all, if anything made him pull further away, Misa decided to try a different tactic, cursing her shortcomings, "This is the perfect time to make people stop shunning you."

"Make them finally love me by being something I'm not after sending the world into chaos? Great advice," he drawled, letting Branwen rest on his shoulder, and Spleens was curled at his feet. Plenty of animals had found their way into this place to ease their God's pain, but these two were Light's pets and thus stayed by his side. 

Branwen made some noises. Then, Light's eyes widened as though realizing something, his cinnamon irises flickering to turquoise as he ran out of the room, and Misa realized that time had frozen entirely around them, so only she and Light were moving.

It didn't take long to catch up to him as he ran to the roof, seeing the winds and the destruction they were causing. He shifted into his true God form in favor of his mortal skin and raised a hand, his eyes glowing as time slowly rewound, the damage being reversed, and his wings emerging as he looked to her pitifully.

"I'm scared..." Misa blinked, wondering what the owl had said to him to give him a change of heart, but now he was admitting to being scared? She shook herself, holding his hand and giving a reassuring squeeze,

"Hey... I'll be right here, okay? If you need help, I'll be here."

"I'm gonna screw this up," he tore at his hair, "And the world's gonna spin the wrong way or something equally insane."

"And you think L didn't do that the first time? But what we know is clearly we're better off with a failed attempt that none at all." Light shrugged, plastering on a smile,

"I guess you're right." He extended his hands, his body taking a dull gold glow, "Well, here goes nothing." He squeezed his eyes shut, "L, please help me." He let go of Misa's hand, his eyes changing to a peculiar pink color, screaming with sheer determination. The eclipse ended, and the moon and sun moved. The Earth shook, and Misa helped keep the wind under control, even with time slowed while Light worked. 

Eventually, he had altered things, so the sun slowly began to rise over the horizon, peeking over the distant mountains.

Misa grinned as Light got the sun up, getting the planet's orbit back on track.

But she did not expect him to fall from the sky, and she had to launch into the air to catch him, lowering him gently to the ground and seeing he had passed out. Fear made itself evident as she shook him, "Light? Light!" He made a little noise, nuzzling closer to her, and she relaxed, seeing he was just asleep and not comatose. The dark bags under his eyes said he hadn't slept in a while, so of course, he was tuckered out. 

She went to carry him to a bedroom, but then she realized something, and her brow furrowed, seeing the sun was rising from the west. Huh? That wasn't right. But she supposed it could be worse.

Time then resumed the deeper asleep Light got, and she had to bounce him to support his weight, regardless of how scrawny he was. She'd wake him up when it was time for the night, and she looked to Branwen, who looked down at her slumbering master worriedly.

"He's okay, Bran," she assured, "What did you say to him to change his mind?" Branwen hooted in response, and Misa rolled her eyes, knowing she'd have to bother Light about it until he told her.

She brought him into L's room, moving the sheets and resting Light down next to L, to which Light instinctively snuggled up against the Sun God. Then she turned to Branwen, "Keep an eye on them, alright?" Branwen nodded, and Misa went off to make sure Light reversing time had actually repaired the damage and hadn't sent civilization and architecture back into medieval times again.

When she made it into the main room, seeing Light really had managed to reverse the damage, Soichiro was waiting,

"How's Light? Was he able to do it?"

"He was," she sighed, sitting down, "He's not taking what happened to L well." 

"I'm not surprised," Naomi mused, "He didn't have many friends, and to lose his friend like that and maybe have to wait for centuries must be hard. We should probably just give him time."

"I know," Matsuda sighed, "Is there anything we can do to help L wake up faster?"

Watari walked in with some food, "That will not be necessary. L's been a fighter ever since I met him, so I am sure he will wake up soon."

Misa thought about her two immortal friends, and a bitter smile made its way on her face as she thought about that day at the cafe they had spent together. She wanted him to wake up just as much as everyone else.

All she could hope for now was that L would wake up before Light flew apart again.


	13. Chapter 13

It had been twenty days now, since Light had corrupted and almost killed L. Nobody knew exactly why Light bothered to count the days, but Misa explained that he had counted down the days until he could meet L, now he was doing the same with how long it had been since he had seen him.

Half of the time, it was hard to tell if Light was even awake or not, his distress leaving him in a state of dissociation, semi-corrupted all the time. Every time he got close to full corruption, Misa could fight or talk him down since he took so little care of himself that he wasn't nearly as strong as he had been the first time.

Ryuk had returned from being forced back to the Shinigami realm by Light, and stayed with him most of the time. And thankfully, Ryuk could get Light to snap out of it, at least to a small degree, since he had been the one Branwen mentioned to convince Light to start the cycle of day and night again. The fact there was a reason the Shinigami weren't typically supposed to interact with the Sun or Moon God, meaning Ryuk could get in serious trouble, and all Shinigami would die if there were no humans to kill off to increase their lifespans.

For now, Light sat at L's side, softly humming a melody he had been taught as a child, hoping that maybe soon L would open his eyes. But every time he checked L's wound, it was only halfway stitched together. Watari had given L some stitches, but his skin wasn't repairing itself like it typically would.

Almost a month, and he had barely managed to heal the skin. Light found himself losing hope of L waking up anytime soon, and no matter how many books he read, he couldn't figure out how to remove the corrupted remnants of his power that left L so weak and unable to wake up.

"Excuse me, are you Light?"

Light turned and was surprised to see an unfamiliar young man standing in the doorway, burn scars coating the left side of his body, reaching up to his neck but not quite his face. His hair was messy dark brown, almost black in the lighting.

But his most striking feature was his eyes. The stranger stared at Light with eyes slightly paler than Light's own when in human form, but the cinnamon color was overshadowing by his pupils, which were glowing crimson red, reminding Light of the color of his irises while corrupted.

Light looked up at him curiously. He seemed partially familiar, but from where? "Who are you?"

"Oh. Beyond Birthday, or B, whichever you prefer." They were both interrupted by the sound of Naomi shouting and running down the hall, trying to arrest Beyond, only for the two to start fighting with equal strength.

Light looked to a still comatose L, before walking out the door to see the commotion as Naomi activated her extra strength from being one of the Sun God's blessed, but Beyond was holding his own remarkably well. Light got in the way of them,

"What is going on?!" He demanded, and Naomi pointed in fury at Beyond, who seemed only mildly inconvenienced,

"He's a serial killer I arrested years ago! L was working the case too. I don't know how he escaped."

Ryuk emerged and looked at Beyond, and he laughed. Light looked to the Shinigami, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, really," Ryuk replied, and Beyond moved past Naomi as though she was only a piece of furniture,

"Those people were gonna die anyway, and I can't exactly stay in jail when Kira tried to kill me, and they jumped my passed out body."

Light's eyes widened as he instantly remembered Beyond, whose name he had written down mostly to see what would happen since the name was so strange. It was one of the last names he had ever written in the Death Note. "Wait, your name is actually Beyond Birthday?"

"I mean, that's the name I use, not the one I was born with, so I guess...?" he trailed off, catching Naomi's fist in his hand, "Could you please stop doing that? I came all this way to help L, and this is how you thank me?"

Naomi looked moments away from saying something very rude, but Raye came down, "What's going on?"

Light urged them both to relax, "I'll handle this, guys. If he wants to help L, I don't see a reason not to let him. Can you get Misa, please?"

"Light—" Naomi tried, but Light's already turquoise eyes began to glow,

"I've already decided," both Naomi and Raye recoiled a bit, realizing that Light had no plans to listen if Beyond so much as claimed to want to help L. Light looked to Beyond, "So... you've killed people?"

"As I said, they were all going to die anyway." Beyond explained as they walked into L's chamber, and Light was surprised to see the look of anguish on Beyond's face as he rushed to L's side, shaking him, "L? L?!"

"He won't wake." Light said somberly, "I thought you had known."

"I knew something had happened, but not what."

"How did you know the people you killed were going to die anyway?" Light asked, trying not to think about L's condition. Beyond looked both parts amused and annoyed,

"Do I need to spell it out for you?" To Light's surprise, black wings, much like his own tore out of Beyond's back, "I'm like you."

Ryuk's snickering once again became full-blown laughter, "This is priceless! After fifty thousand years!"

"Huh?"

Ryuk explained, "I wasn't around for this, but I used to hear stories that there was a fourth God, with power over the Earth itself. Nobody except the Old Man knows for sure what happened since humans and Shinigami both have at least five different versions of it. Anyway, from what I gather, something happened that messed up that God badly, and after that incarnation died, no child with that power was born for over fifty thousand years." He chuckled, "And of course, the ability was reawakened when a hybrid was born."

Suddenly it made sense to Light how Beyond knew when people were going to die. He was half-Shinigami, and also a god of comets and meteors. So Light supposed that since he had the extra power of water, Misa had wind, and L had fire, Beyond's additional ability was manipulating the land, but that could be his direct magic too, so he didn't know.

Maybe later, Light would have a hard time processing this, but all he really cared about was that this person might be able to help L. It didn't matter who he was, what he had done, or what power he had, just that maybe he could help L wake up.

But what if Ryuk's story had a warning too? If something had happened to kill a God and keep them from incarnating for thousands of years, what if that was what was happening to L and he would never wake up?!

"Is there anything you can do for him?" Light asked hopefully as Beyond, with the utmost care, removed the sheets and lifted L's sleep shirt, staring at the sickening wound. A mix of horror and sadness was on his face as he gently cupped L's cheek in such a loving way that a flare of jealously made itself known in Light, but he realized that he had no right. Even if L had confessed to him, what if that had been to just calm him down?

He replaced that jealously with protectiveness because who was this guy to think he could look at an unconscious person he didn't know like that. Sure, L did have a beauty to him, but still.

"Do you know L outside of your murder case?" He asked with a hint of warning, and Beyond recoiled, before sighing,

"Yeah, actually. Ask Watari. I was supposed to be his successor, but things went south. We weren't super close, but we've known each other since we were twelve. I suspected he was the Sun God, but never told him about my own abilities."

Light was about to inquire about what happened, but a haunted look in Beyond's eyes told him not to ask about that, "I would assume he did since your eyes aren't exactly normal."

"Oh," Beyond put a hand just under his right eye, "This happened after Kira tried to kill me. It's the only reason I know there were outside forces, and I didn't just collapse from not having slept in months."

"But if you're a God, why didn't you bust out of prison on your own?"

"I was depressed, and the whole murder thing was just a complicated suicide, hence the burns. I didn't know I was a God like you since fifty thousand years is a long time, so I thought I could die like a human. I was wrong. I could have escaped, but I didn't bother." He examined L, "Is there magic fighting against his healing?"

"Yeah..." Light bit his lip and looked down at the floor, "I got corrupted and stabbed him after forcing my darker powers onto him."

"Well," Beyond huffed, "That's not good." He tucked L back in, turning to Light and extending a hand, "Come on, Light," he offered, "I want to show you something. I think it can help L."

"What is it?" Light asked, taking Beyond's hand without any hesitation.

"Pack lightly, but enough for a couple of days," Beyond said, "It will be a long flight."

OoOoO

"Alright, do you have everything?" Light's Dad asked, checking the list of supplies to pack, "Food? Water? Lantern for if there's mist?"

"Yeah, I have everything," Light gestured to his enchanted messenger bag, "I should probably get going."

"Oh!" His Dad put a raincoat on him, "Just in case."

"Dad, I'm just going to be gone for a couple days, I don't see the need to worry."

"I know, but..." his Dad trailed off, "This is the first time you've left home for a trip like this. I've always thought of you as my child with powers, but now you're actually becoming a God. It's hard to process, even if I know you don't need basic human things." Light softened, seeing his Dad held his still blackened hand, but thankfully the claws weren't there anymore now that he had some hope of waking L. Now the only traces of his distress was his turquoise eyes, different pigmentation of his hands, and the blue streaks in his hair.

He hugged his Dad, "Thanks, Dad, for caring so much." He looked to Branwen and Spleens, the former of which wanted to come with him. Light broke the hug and moved to cuddle his pets for a moment,

"Make sure everything doesn't go to hell, okay guys?" He looked to his Dad, "Take care of L for me, please. Make sure he gets moved every couple hours into a new position, and talk to him, so he doesn't get lonely."

"I will, Light, I promise."

Misa came in, her hair in braided pigtails, "Ready to go, Light? B's waiting for us on the roof."

"Coming!" He ran out of the door and saw B was waiting for him, his wings out, and a bag.

B looked him up and down, "Didn't expect a raincoat for a God who can manipulate water."

Light giggled sheepishly, "Dad said it's better to be safe than sorry, so I might as well. How long's the flight?"

"Depends on multiple things. For us, probably about thirty-six hours, assuming we go about two hundred miles an hour. But if Light slows time, the rest of the world and therefore weather will probably think it's much less than that."

"I can do that." Light said, "But where are we going, exactly?"

"It'll ruin the surprise if I just tell you," Beyond replied, turning to face Light, "I did a lot of traveling in the last couple months, so I'll just say you're going to love it, and if anyone knows how to help L, it's either at this destination or the next one."

"I told Dad I'd be back in a few days," Light muttered worriedly, and Misa shrugged,

"I'm sure he'll understand. Even then, we can push that to six days. I'm sure that will be plenty of time."

Light nodded and let his own wings out, taking off into the sky with Misa and Beyond, looking back at the building and able to see exactly where L was sleeping.

_Just hang on, L. We're going to find a way to help you._


	14. Chapter 14

It was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. 

Light looked around the island hidden at the center of the Bermuda Triangle in a place where only Gods and those blessed by them could enter, at the lush grass beneath his feet and the stunning flowers in the garden, which he watched bloom as the moon shone high above.

The flowers here only bloomed at night...

He bent down beside them and noticed one of the rare flowers called Queen of the Night was open tonight, surrounded by other moonflowers. In the pools around the area were red flare water lilies, the warm pink and red colors contrasting the white of the other blossoms.

The temple was like a palace, made of white marble and the moon's emblem at the entrance, and domed roofs. From the windows was only a soft pale blue lighting, and the windows were open.

Beyond grinned, his hands in his pockets as a Blakiston's fish owl flew to him, "Light, welcome to the Moon Temple. The Sun Temple is in the Sahara Desert, and the Star Temple is on Mount Everest."

"What about you?" Misa asked, looking around, and Beyond shrugged,

"Nobody's been there for thousands of years, so I have no idea where it even would be." He walked over to Light, "Shift. I'll get the attention of the people inside." Light bit his lip sheepishly, thinking about the blue in his hair from his emotions, and Beyond squeezed his shoulder encouragingly, "They'll love you."

"The last time I..."

"This isn't like that time," Beyond replied, and Light relaxed, nodding a bit to himself as he shifted. A young man wandered out of the entrance, entire face lighting up with excitement as he called inside, and Light found himself surrounded by humans of varying ages, bowing to him and all elated to see him.

"Kami," the first man said, standing, "I am Teru Mikami. What is it you wish?"

Light relaxed, "Hello. This is actually the first time I've heard about this place."

"We heard about the battle between Sun and Moon," Mikami said softly, "Is that why you're here?" Light nodded,

"I struck him down, but I need to learn to fix it."

"Are you sure that's all?" Another woman asked, "We've been awaiting your arrival for so long. You must have had a long journey."

He had to get back to L... but it would be rude to refuse hospitality such as this. This was what he had wanted his whole life, right? He wasn't sure if he could feel L's presence, or it was trying to ease his own guilty conscience, but he ended up nodding, "I would actually love that."

He was brought along, and he wanted to explore every inch of this place one day. Maybe he could take L here one day when he woke up! The smooth stone felt cool against his bare feet as he followed Mikami while Misa and Beyond were cared for than the others.

"Would you like me to draw you a bath?" Mikami asked, and Light nodded, feeling tired from flying for so long, and when he saw his chambers, his eyes widened considerably as all the books and scrolls in the room and gorgeous decor, unlike anything he had ever seen. "Is it to your liking?"

"Far more than that," Light looked around, seeing different robes in a wardrobe untouched by time, and he noticed a tapestry off to the left of the desk, of a man who Light both recognized and didn't. "Who's that?"

Mikami turned, "That's one of your predecessors, Tsuki-Yomi. His sister, Amaterasu-Ōmikami, was the Sun Goddess, and considered Japan to be the most powerful God."

Light tensed at the familiar words he had heard so many times from people believing her to be his predecessor, "Let me guess, he corrupted, and she got all the glory?"

"Somewhat, although there was no banishment or drastic lasting impact of their fight itself. The reason behind it up for debate, but because this battle was much more civil and Amaterasu was the Queen of the Kami and had the power of creation, she was considered to be the greater God by default in Japan."

"Why am I not surprised?" Light muttered, but Mikami smiled,

"The rest of the world isn't like Japan. Many places around the world value the Moon God much more, such as the people living in the poles." 

"Really?" Light then felt awful and tore at his hair, realizing he hadn't even considered that possibility and had corrupted, striking L down for nothing! He supposed he couldn't have known since he was born and raised in Japan, trying to live as normal of a life as possible, but this realization brought him both joy and terror.

"Yes. Those blessed by the Moon Gods tend to gather here to preserve the most ancient of texts."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-three. I am the youngest here." Mikami replied, "I was blessed as a young child as one of the final actions of Lady Selene, who valued my determination to protect people. It helped me heal no matter what those sinners did to me, and I have valued her gift every day."

"Thank you, Mikami, for telling me about all of this." Mikami bowed,

"I'll draw you a bath." He walked into the chamber, connected by an archway and a curtain. Light sat at the desk, getting a sudden feeling of deja vu as he took a seat and read through a scroll, reading through it and learning that he could actually be a healer. Many of his predecessors had assisted with high-risk births, be it human or animal, to ensure mother and child were safe.

Then he saw something that instantly caught his attention.

Water gifted by the Moon God was said to have healing properties when drank. Could this be what he was looking for? But would it work when against his own powers?

Mikami came back after a while, "Your bath is ready, Kami."

"Please," Light turned, "Just call me Light." He got up, "By any chance, are there any books on how to remove my own power? The reason L can't heal is because of my own powers having been forced on him and preventing his healing."

"I believe so," Mikami replied, "I can check the library if you wish."

"Please do. I won't be long."

"Alright then, Light."

Light entered the bathroom, shocked by the number of soaps or how luxurious the whole place was. He shifted back into his human form and undressed, instantly appreciating the hot water on his tired muscles or the fact the bath was such a size that he lay flat on the bottom without running out of space. The exhaustion he felt now was a new sensation since he hadn't traveled for what for him was over a day straight with no breaks before, especially since he had needed to strain himself far more than usual by forcefully moving the sun in the sky.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, but he had fallen asleep at some point; since next thing he knew, he was fully submerged but realized within moments that he wasn't struggling to breathe at all. 

Beyond was looking down at him, and he yelped a bit, sitting upright and going to cover himself, "Beyond, what the hell?!"

"Good to know you're not dead," Beyond replied, "You've been in there all night and froze the water above you. Nobody could reach you. But I came to tell you it's sun time."

"Did I?" Light looked, and the water still felt warm, but he figured the ice would have melted when he shot upright. "Do you mind giving me some privacy?"

"Sure. Oh, and Mikami found that book you were looking for. Interesting stuff, but no records on how to do so when the Sun God's the victim, so we're gonna have to head to the Sun Temple soon to see if there's any info there. I already called Quillish about it, and he'll be meeting us there."

"Would they even know since I'm the first Moon God to win?"

"First _known_ Moon God to win," Beyond corrected, "And seeing as it's highly unlikely the humans know there is a fourth God, I doubt that the information we have found is all there is. Misa's actually planning to stay here and do some research on the matter to see if my theory is right."

"Shouldn't I stay then?"

"We don't have time if you're the only one who can wake L up!" Beyond snapped, and Light got up and quickly grabbed the robe next to the bath,

"You seem to care a lot for someone who claims to barely know L."

Beyond tensed, but then quickly regained his composure, giving a nonchalant hand gesture, "I just wanna rub it in his face that I helped save his ass. And give him hell for sending Naomi to deal with the case involving me and then being hyper-focused on you as Kira. I get why he prioritized you more, but still! Rude!"

He knew that wasn't all, but Light decided to drop it and get dressed in a kimono he could move freely in, and he knew he needed to come back one day, but for now, he had wasted too much time.

When he entered the main room, he found Mikami writing in a notebook, and Light walked over, "What's that?"

"It's everything I have studied that may help you in your quest." He offered the notebook, and Light flipped through the notebook, eyes wide as he found so much new information,

"Thank you so much. And I feel the need to point out your penmanship is incredible." Mikami flushed, and Light beamed, "I'll be back soon, I promise! I can't wait to show L this place!" 

As Beyond guided him out the door, Light read through the notebook, seeing that to remove his own curse, he could very well will it to be so, but placing the victim in the water while doing so many the process much easier.

"Why not just head back to Japan now?" Light asked, and Beyond shrugged,

"Sun Temple's on the way, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to make a pit stop there to make sure we have enough info."

"True." He met up with Misa in the library after making sure the world wasn't going to fall apart due to no sun and moon rotation, "Mikami did us a serious solid and wrote down everything that will help us."

"He's great," Misa replied, sliding down a ladder. "I'm thinking about blessing him too. Can multiple Gods bless a person? He's super helpful. And Light, you have to try some of the food around here," she offered him a pastry, which he tried, and his eyes widened considerably. She grinned, resting her hands behind her head, "So are we all going instead of me staying? I'm gonna have to visit my own temple sometime too. Maybe do some more worldwide travels since I'm a rising actress."

"Guys," Beyond huffed, "Can we please go?" 

"You're the one who said we would love it here," Misa replied, before sighing, "But yeah, we should head back to L and wake him up."

"Agreed." And as Light read more about his powers, he felt hope blossoming in his chest, knowing that with this newfound knowledge, soon L would open his eyes again.


	15. Chapter 15

Light hadn't known what he expected from the Sun Temple, but the abundance of lush greenery in the middle of the Sahara Desert and a general lack of people was not it.

In truth, when he thought of a Sun Temple, he thought of the one in India, but he supposed it made some form of sense for it to be here. He turned to Watari, who had met them here, "Where is everyone?"

"In a general state of panic and traveling worldwide," Watari explained, "After hearing L had been struck down, the Sun's Blessed didn't exactly know what to do with themselves since in their lifetimes, this hadn't happened before."

"In their lifetimes?" He put his hands in his pockets, "So it has happened before but a long time ago?"

"Not exactly. Come along."

Light looked towards Beyond, who was looking around the abandoned temple, his expression completely unreadable, "Are you coming?"

"Oh," Beyond snapped out of it, "Yeah. Misa would probably think this place is boring."

"She'll be meeting us back home, right?"

"Yeah." Beyond looked around, "You two talk; I'm going to head to the library. I want to see what there is to know about my power." He headed off, and Light watched him go before looking back to Watari, who was looking at Beyond suspiciously.

Light had to admit Beyond Birthday's appearance here, and insistence on waking L up was striking him as odd. Sure, they knew each other somewhat, but it didn't explain why a former serial killer would be adamant about L being pulled from the coma.

Watari knew Beyond better than Light did, so if Watari was suspicious, Light found it wasn't unreasonable to feel the same way, so he had much less doubt over his gut feeling that was already telling him something was wrong here.

"What happened before?" Light asked as Watari brought him into a massive room full of masterfully-crafted murals, each telling a story. Light ran his fingertips against the wall, feeling the texture of perfect brush strokes. "Is this..."

"It's an account of the story of both Sun and Moon God per incarnation." Watari gestured to one particular mural of a boy and a girl, but the line between Sun or Moon was blurred. "This is the story I want to show you. There have been other instances of the Sun being harmed, but this tale is more relevant to now and L's condition."

Light examined the mural, taking in the story that was being told in the art. It seemed that in this tale, the Sun was a young princess, and her brother was the Moon. The two were extremely close until they reached the age of maturity and their mother passed away, at which time the princess decided that she felt threatened by her brother, whose compassion made him the one people wanted on the throne. Overcome with jealously, she soon became obsessed and corrupted, striking her brother down... and he let her without putting up any semblance of a fight. It was only after that did she realize what she had done and fled the kingdom.

But her brother lived, badly injured, and his spirit separated from his body to continue protecting her and making sure she was safe. It was a long time before he was able to overcome his injuries and wake from his slumber. By that time, the princess had improved herself and begged for her brother's forgiveness, which he gladly gave.

"So it's possible for L to heal, if this has happened before." He smiled a bit, "Nice to know Suns corrupt too. But that doesn't explain _how_ to heal him."

"But this does mean it is possible," Watari pointed out, "It is a shame that society has always played such a key role in young gods tearing each other apart." Light groaned,

"I'm beginning to see where the trope of immortals resenting humanity comes from."

"As many young gods your age do." He headed through the hall, "We should find the library."

Light headed through the hall and then felt something tapping his shoulder. He turned and saw Ryuk, "Ryuk! I didn't think I'd see you here." His eyes widened as a thought occurred to him, "Is L okay?"

"He's fine. I just got bored." He flew around, "This place sure is empty." Light chuckled humorlessly,

"I wonder how my temple isn't in horrific repair if this kind of thing happens when one side loses. How many murals were there in there where there wasn't a big fight? Maybe five, most of which before society came along?" He huffed, "I'm guessing they don't even care anymore."

"Actually, it's a big factor in why Shinigami aren't meant to get involved with the Gods, since basically every time it happens, one of them corrupts. I am _lucky_ you didn't corrupt when I got nervous about befriending you."

That caught Light's interest, "Really?"

"See, how Shinigami work is that we heighten anxiety and bad memories and anger or fear, and it forms as addiction to the Death Note or drives them to suicide. However, with the Gods, it tends to lead to emotional instability and easier corruption. I mean, there are other reasons, but for as long as I have been around, that's the most relevant one.

Light slumped, "I see..." he noticed Beyond, "Hey, did you find anything?"

Beyond shrugged, "Not much about reversing enchantments. There is plenty of interesting stuff here, but nothing that will help us wake up L." He huffed, "At this rate, he'll wake up on his own before he can find a cure."

"That would be nice," he pulled out his phone, "I'll tell Misa that coming here was a bust. Maybe I'll come back with L when he's awake since he might benefit from this." He felt Watari's hand on his shoulder,

"He'll wake up eventually."

"I know," he crossed his arms, "But I would rather not wait 1000 years." He shook himself, "Come on, let's just go home. We'll try the healing water."

"We can take the jet," Watari offered, "So you can rest your wings."

"Thank you, Watari."

OoOoO

L was rested in a bathtub as Light read through the notes Mikami had given him for how to use healing water, which so far didn't amount to much except leaving his hand in the water, letting his power do the work while all he could do was watch cluelessly.

He studied L's face, deathly pale and with no sign of life at all. His wound was stitched together but only superficially, not that it could be seen at the moment as L was still dressed in his sun robes. He could only imagine L opening his eyes again because this had to work, right? He still had to keep an eye on L until he figured out why exactly Beyond Birthday wanted him to wake up, keep L safe.

Beyond was sitting next to the tub as well, "Any progress?"

"No, nothing yet," Light muttered, stirring his hand around in the water, "Why are you even here?"

"What? I want to see him wake up too." Light paused his movements, narrowing his eyes as he turned, 

"You know, I've asked before why you want L to wake up, but I can't help but feel increasingly concerned the more insistent you get. Is there something you were looking for in those books?" Beyond scoffed,

"I already told you I just want to rub it in his face that I helped save his ass. What more do you want?"

"I'll believe that's part of it," Light replied, removing his hand from the water and standing in front of the bathtub protectively, "What do you really want with L?"

Silence. Beyond Birthday stared at him with a bored expression that almost made Light question if he was right about this, but he had to trust his gut here, and he remembered how Naomi reacted to this man. He shifted into his godlike form as a silent warning.

The display of power only made Beyond laugh. It was a horrible sound, much more like a Shinigami's laugh than a human one, but had such a sense of wrong that Light was taken about.

"Do you really think your untrained little light show can do anything against me?" He shifted as well, and Light's eyes widened considerably when he realized Beyond looked nothing like a God of Earth was expected to. Or if he was, it was a dead earth, his robes tattered and blackened, glowing red eyes shining so bright it illuminated the room and the bottom of his robes having a texture of shriveled roots.

While there were many differences, Light had heard enough about his own Nightmare Moon form to understand what had happened with Beyond. Somehow, he was corrupted and had managed to fool them all to believe otherwise. He had thought he had seen Beyond's shift during their flights together, but looking at him now, Light knew he had been sorely mistaken.

Beyond Birthday gave a lopsided grin, "What did you expect? Do you have any idea what it was like growing up in that orphanage with the one person who would understand your struggle being just out of reach and not even paying you much attention? Forced to be something we weren't by that bastard, Watari? My best friend committing suicide due to being unable to handle the pressure? For L to have sent that mortal bitch Naomi who clearly wanted me to kill myself to investigate the case, I started to get his attention?" He laughed, but it quickly became more of a sob, "Who wouldn't corrupt from that! I couldn't even burn myself to death properly and now look at me. I think _anyone_ would want a little revenge after being forgotten and abandoned like that, wouldn't you agree, Moonie?" His eyes were crazed as he took a step forward, but Light held his hand up in warning.

"I'm not going to let you hurt him for some sick revenge."

"Hurt him?" He paused, "Oh, you have it all wrong, Moonie! I don't want to _hurt_ him. No, no, I just want to make sure he knows better than to ignore me, and I want him to wise up about that monstrous successor program his dear guardian Watari has started," he turned towards the window, looking down at the city below, "And burn it to the ground. After all, what would be a crueler revenge to the servant of the Sun God, than that very same Sun God tearing down everything the servant has built?"

Light tensed, looking down at where L remained asleep, knowing full well Misa could probably sense something was going down and would hurry back here faster. "Don't you think this is a bit excessive? The program will shut down when Watari dies, right?"

Beyond looked back with mild annoyance on his face, "Are you trying to think like an immortal right now? I know you've only recently begun settling, so that mindset is still new, but color me unimpressed. There is this thing called inheritance, and a program doesn't shut down when the founder dies. Even if we abolish _this_ program to turn children into weapons, someone else may do so, and let's just say talking it out isn't likely going to work. You have to destroy it, and it's not like damn mortals take anyone but the Sun God seriously." He smirked as he noticed that caught Light's attention, "You know it's true, that outside of that one small island, the only people who love you and the night are the ones who want something out of you like longer deadlines or more sleep and not even embrassing your precious nighttime. If it wasn't true, would L even be in this condition right now?"

Light cringed, squeezing his eyes shut to not let that point get to him. He noticed Branwen perch on his shoulder as though to comfort him, and he regained his resolve.

"I'm not letting you just wake up L to use him. Besides, he's much more stubborn than you give him credit for. Do you really think he'd turn to your side?"

"I'm not counting on it," he put his hands in his pockets, "Do you want to know why Earth Gods are really so rare? It wasn't some super majestic thing the other three gods did." Dark purple bubbles danced around his fingertips, "It was because a Shinigami had a child with a human, and that child ended up being the one to become the Earth God in the reincarnation cycle. It messed everything up, and gave that Earth God much more control over our own corruption, and the ability to corrupt others of our kind. Naturally when the others tried to handle the situation it led to a general clusterfuck with the reincarnation cycle."

Light's eyes were glowing bright blue in his anger, "I don't care about any of that. It doesn't mean anything. But this whole revenge venture is pointless! And even if you were to try corrupting L, which I _refuse_ to let you, I can just as easily snap him out of it like he did to me." He did his best to hide the momentary doubt that made itself known, praying Beyond Birthday didn't hear it.

If he did, Beyond paid it no mind as he seemed intrigued by other things. "Though I will admit, given how L is currently down for the count and you are horribly untrained and exhausted from taking L's role of the sun with my help, that would make me the strongest and best practiced God, correct?" He crossed his arms, "It does make my revenge less powerful, but oh well. You're great to bounce ideas off of, Moonie!" he walked past Light, going to clap him on the shoulder, but Light flinched away, "Oh, don't be like that. But why be like that when I can just kill all of humanity except our select worshippers and perhaps your family since they sort of count, and we just start anew? Successor program gone, sun bias gone, just equal for all of us!"

"Because that's just wrong!"

"And why is that? Because you were fully ready to accept the help of a Shinigami to kill as many people as needed to make people love the night too. You'd be a hypocrite to talk."

"That was different," Light mumbled, but it sounded cheap even to his own ears. He decided to not point out that whatever Beyond did, he could just keep reversing time to undo it.

"Yeah, yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Moonie," he stopped in the doorway, "Are you going to follow me, or wait here with Lawlipop? It's pointless to fight againt me."

Light didn't say anything, just looking at the ground, and thankfully he didn't have to say anything as a blast send Beyond launching across the hallway, and Light hurried out to see Misa ready to fight, "I felt your distress, Light, what's going on?"

"Beyond's crazy and corrupted. You know, the usual at this point." Beyond put a hand on his chest,

"Are you really gonna fight me?" Misa flew at him and dove out the window, which was as good of an answer as any. Light ran back over to L's side, where he still lay helplessly in the bathtub, clasping his hand.

"L, come on, Sunshine, you have to wake up," he pleaded, "We need you. He's right; I'm not trained enough to deal with this." His tears fell into the tub as he held L's hand close, "Can we even do it without you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a faint golden glow, and he felt warm arms around him from behind, and he was unable to see, but his eyes widened as he heard L's voice even though L's body was very much still comatose.

"I have faith in you, Light-Kun. Show humanity what you are really capable of."

"But I can't! I'm not trained, and do I really have time to practice?"

"You have all the time in the world, Light," L whispered, and Light could see a semi-transparent sparkling gold version of L holding onto him, "Just trust yourself."

"I can't even heal you properly!"

"Look down."

Light looked down at the tub, and his eyes widened as he saw the soft silver from the waters, the color especially collecting around where L's wound was hidden under his robes.

"I will be fine, Light. Already Nightmare Moon's curse is leaving me, but you have to face B on your own. But never forget I believe in you, even if you don't believe in yourself." He felt L's presence fading, and he turned around desperately,

"L—No! I need you!"

But L was gone, and Light tore at his hair, hearing the commotion of the raging battle outside. He turned back to L's body and hoisted him out of the tub, noticing immediately that L's abilities were back as his cheeks regained the slightest rosy tiny. He was dry immediately upon leaving the water and rested back in his bed with no issue.

"Ryuk!" Ryuk came in from where he seemed to have been watching the battle between Misa and Beyond outside, "Ryuk, it's Misa and I against a corrupted and trained Beyond. Did you know he was like that?"

"Not a clue," Ryuk replied, "I'm the youngest Shinigami, I'm not one who would know any details like that." Light tore at his hair, and Dad ran in,

"Light! I had to make sure you were alright. What's going on outside?!"

"Beyond's insane and wanted to use L in a revenge plan," Light explained, trying to think of something to do before an idea came to him, "I have to fight him, _and_ I need to know what exactly happens if we win and how to beat him. But I refuse to let anyone get hurt."

"Well, you were able to lock the world in an eclipse and turn back the clock into the feudal age," Dad mused, "I'm sure you'll be able to think of something." Light brightened,

"Dad, you're a genius! What if I can completely freeze time?" He opened the window, grateful for it being nighttime so he wouldn't need to exhaust himself with sun duties. He had no idea what he was doing, so all he could do was worry himself about what he knew would happen if he failed.

When he opened his eyes, he turned and saw Dad frozen in place, midway through saying something. Light walked over to the petrified form of his father and smiled. However, it was strained as he already felt the effects of his power having a toll on him as he gripped onto his freezing of time frantically. Why was he able to do things like this as Nightmare Moon and not as himself? The loss of anxiety? Did he just need confidence in himself?

He was snapped out of his thoughts by hearing an unexpected encouragement from Ryuk, who was not frozen. "Good luck, Light-o," he said, "I'll be watching the fight."

Knowing Ryuk probably wasn't even allowed to get involved and therefore asking was pointless, he shifted and hopped out the window. Hopefully, he could find some idea of winning this fight because he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up, especially if he needed to avoid being touched or distracted.

Confidence... he could do that. Sure, L and Misa actually hadn't really been able to win against him, and L had a better grasp of his powers. But maybe Beyond would be easier? Everything would be fine.

At least, that was what he told himself as he made it to meet up with Misa, seeing both of them with weapons at the ready and engaging in combat, Misa's staff against Beyond's scythe. Light realized then that it was either impossible or much harder to access their elemental powers with time frozen, meaning that maybe they really did have a chance at winning this as long as Light was able to keep time frozen.

He flew up, and Beyond Birthday grinned maliciously at him, "You're responsible for this?" Light didn't confirm nor deny anything, and he got a laugh from his opponent. "Alright then, Moonie, you want to fight? Then let's fight."

Light summoned his sword, his breath catching in his throat as he barely managed to block a blow. His goal was to snap Beyond out of it, but if he had truly been corrupted for so long that he had figured out how to mask it and have perfect control of himself...

He could only hope he could figure out how to use the last resort.


End file.
